Albany

Price Your Pork

Albany's Reaction to Spitzer Scandal: 'What the Fuck?'

Wheezing Over Congestion Pricing

Albany! LL Cool J Endorses Smith, Diaz Fights "Homosexual Marriage"

Say, aren't our elected representatives supposed to go to Albany and get sworn in on January 1? And isn't the fate of the elected Democratic majority -- the state's first since the Ice Age -- still unsettled? Would-be Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's biggest achievement recently was to pick up the en ... More >>

Skelos Gets Union Bigs to Meet with Dem Albany Rebels

There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>

Marriage Equality Backers Turned Away by City

This morning outside the city's Manhattan Marriage Bureau -- which was recently refurbished to draw tourist trade -- more than a hundred protesters expressed their displeasure with the absence of a marriage equality law in New York. Same-sex marriage gets much lip service from Democrats in Albany, b ... More >>

Aqueduct "Racino" Deal Falls Through

The state's been counting on a proposed casino at Aqueduct Raceway -- or, as the board of horrible neologisms dubbed it, a "racino" -- but it appears the deal is off. Delaware North, the Buffalo company that Albany picked back in October to handle the project, now says it doesn't have the $370 milli ... More >>

Quick Hits

We noticed freenapkin.com; now here's the Craigslist freebie Twitter feed, Free_NewYork. There you can get a free four-person hot tub -- but "please take it only if you need it." Since Paterson's "hiring freeze," Albany's payroll gained more than 8,000 salaries, says the Buffalo News. BuffNews ... More >>

MTA Committee Approves $2.50 Fare

Albany's tripping over its dick on this one, so the MTA is going full speed ahead with the Doomsday Budget: its Finance Committee just voted to raise the fare to $2.50. If the full board goes along on Wednesday, a weekly pass will go from $25 to $31 and a monthly from $81 to $103. Well, at least ... More >>

Governor Paterson Means Business

Spitzer's successor disses his bad old radical self

Living the Political Life Fantastic

Surf, turf, and doughnuts: A state senator dines out on his campaign war chest

Pataki's SUNY Shock

Fed Up With Cuts and Hikes, Students Prep to March on Albany

Loft Law Limbo

Artists Fret As Albany Fiddles

A Defining Bloomberg

Our Nice-Guy Mayor Makes Some Bad Budget Choices

More on Albany's Rockefeller Drug Law Reform

In a rare moment of cooperation in Albany, Governor Paterson and the state legislature effectively ended the harshest provisions of the much-criticized Rockefeller Drug Laws today. The agreement ends mandatory jail time for first-time and non-violent felony offenders, something that advocates have f ... More >>

Security on the Domestic Front

New legislation would end exclusion of housekeepers and nannies from basic labor laws

Tolls Coming Back to MTA Rescue?

Back in February it looked like bridge tolls were going to save us from the MTA Doomsday budget. But in March the tolls were tabled, and the MTA started lining up a crappier subway with $2.50 fares. But hark! What do we hear from Albany? They're talking about tolls again. Some modifications are bei ... More >>

Mayoral Control of Schools Lumbers to June Reckoning

Albany has to decide in June whether to leave Mayor Bloomberg in charge of the school system, which privilege he attained in 2002. The Times mischievously profiles his Panel for Educational Policy, whose duties seem to involve holding meetings and being yelled at by parently at sparsely-attended hea ... More >>

MTA: Expect Even Worser Service, and Maybe No Trains at Night

You know those MTA service cuts we were promised along with the new fare hikes as part of the Doomsday Fun-Pak? Well, the Authority's executive director just announced they'll be even worse and may include the end of all-night subway service. "I'm not sure the English language captures what goes be ... More >>

Flash! Albany Working on MTA Plan

Albany lawmakers are behind closed doors, working on an MTA plan. A taxi surcharge and payroll taxes are among the remedies they're considering. Paterson's calling for "action." His new wrinkle is to offer constituents reimbursement of the payroll tax to their school districts -- a typical Albany Ru ... More >>

Verrazano Bridge Toll Going Up?

We're still waiting for the vote that is expected to pass the MTA budget compromise, which charges drivers and employers taxes and surcharges to keep the buses and trains running with just a slight increase in fares. And we hope the Dalai Lama's invocation in Albany this morning put them all in a mo ... More >>

No One Really Likes the MTA Plan

Governor Paterson greeted communters at the Bryant Park subway station this morning, in celebration of the MTA bailout plan that Albany passed last night, though no one seems in a celebratory mood -- not even the Governor. "The one thing that I learned through this process," Paterson said, "is that ... More >>

"Spitzer" Joins "Paterson" on SNL

Are we awful for enjoying the Saturday Night Live Paterson gags? They're certainly dopey, focusing as they do on Paterson's blindness, drug and sex history, and epochal unpopularity. And New Jersey! But we like dopey sketches, and are pleased that Fred Armisen has found a political character that ... More >>

MTA Approves Plan; Fare Up 25 Cents on June 17

At long last, a practical effect to the months-long Albany-MTA wrangle: the MTA approved the Albany plan and officially voted in a fare hike from $2.00 to $2.25 (and from $81 for a monthly to $89, and so forth). The new higher fares kick in on June 17. Upstate Republicans continue to bitch about t ... More >>

Bid to Tax Video Games Incites Gamers; Might They Organize?

Felix Ortiz is a pain in the ass. In 2007 the Brooklyn assemblyman tried to get beer advertising out of the subways. Earlier this year he wanted to add taxes on strip clubs and beer, wine, and liquor -- beer, wine, and liquor, Mandrake! He has also introduced a doozy before the legislature: an ... More >>

Staten Islanders to Tie Up Verrazano Bridge with Pennies on Monday

Hey, you can have your Tea Parties -- Staten Island's having a Penny Protest! As few outside the forgotten borough noticed, the recent Albany MTA bill added a dollar to the Verrazano Bridge's $9 toll. So local "self taught artist" Scott LoBaido proposes that at noon on Monday, drivers protest the hi ... More >>

Senate Coup Plotters' Hidden Agenda

Tabloids call it a circus, but the lobbyists' goal is to squelch reforms

Coup In Review: Same Old Same Old

They had that special session last night in Albany and guess what? Nothing happened, again. That's why New York is pretending to have a Board of Ed today. (On the upside, the stalled senate kept a new city sales tax from going into effect.) Today in Albany there was a "leadership meeting" scheduled ... More >>

Board of Ed to Albany: Please Kill Me

The new dummy Board of Ed, set up by city officials to comply with the old school charter that went back into effect because Albany failed to restore mayoral control, got down to the business of making Dennis Walcott its "president," putting Joel Klein back in charge, and formally asking Albany to p ... More >>

Coup in Review: State Senators Weekend in Albany! Diaz Walks Out, Yonkers "Running On Fumes"

Hope you enjoy your holiday weekend while the Albany Coup keeps your state senators stuck in Albany -- hardly a vacation destination -- under orders by Governor Paterson. The respective party leaders are brassing it out, refusing to be pushed into a settlement, and Ruben Diaz Sr. says he's going to ... More >>

Coup in Review: Senators Work Grueling Three-Minute Days Through Holiday Weekend

Thank God Paterson made them work through the holiiday! On Saturday and Sunday New York's state senators came in, gaveled, postured, and finished in about three minutes, achieving nothing. But at least they can say they worked, which is more than we bums who pay taxes can say. Casey Seiler of the Al ... More >>

Coup in Review: Sampson Rebrands, Golisano Claims People in the Street Support the Coup

Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, there's a lot of talking going on in Albany and no sign of advancement. There's another special session scheduled momentarily. Democratic sorta-leader John Sampson says he'll run through some bills, and attempts to rebrand what we had come to know and love as the ... More >>

Paterson to Go on TV at 5 p.m.

Governor Paterson is going on TV at 5 p.m. He will almost certainly address the Albany Coup, which is a month old today, but no one know what specific remedies he will offer. The Albany Times-Union thinks he may announce the appointment of a lieutenant governor, a move which attorney general Andrew ... More >>

$85 Million in Albany Member Items Disbursed for Parrot Adoption, Self-Esteem, Etc.

The state senate laid out its new member items, and it's hilarious or grim reading depending on whether you read it as a student of human nature, or as a taxpayer. Jimmy Vielkind has the list. The $85 million feedbag of discretionary items for senators' constituents includes $2 million for Pedro Es ... More >>

State Senate, Working on Mayoral Control, Gives Itself a New Committee

As promised, the state senate is back in session and working on a revival of mayoral control of New York City schools, which was allowed to lapse during the Albany Coup, requiring the Mayor to set up a dummy Board of Ed. But in the run-up to that long-awaited act, they're added a select senate commi ... More >>

MTA Latest City Workers to Get Fat Raises

Ev'ybody gotta eat, right? So after the Albany Democrats gave fat raises to their staffers, and city council gave fat raises to their staffers (in emulation of the Mayor's similar largesse to his staffers), the boys and girls of the MTA hadda have their hands out, too. NY1 predicts raises of betwee ... More >>

Poll: Voters Hate Albany, But Are Less Inclined Toward Revolution Now

Why's there a poll out on primary day? The new Marist Poll is not about present candidates, but about the state senate, and as was seen in other recent polls, the state's voters hate their elected representatives. 70 percent remain "angry" about this summer's Albany Coup, 68 percent want "major chan ... More >>

We Pay More for Trains Even If We Take Cabs, But At Least They're Not on Fire

​You think your commute is bad: In Philly SEPTA is on strike, which has screwed up transit especially much for the poorer folks who live furthest from their workplaces. Such trains as there are, are overcrowded, and this morning one of them caught fire; passengers panicked and kicked out the w ... More >>

Special Session 1 Isn't Much; Special Session 2 Next Week

This week's special session of the legislature in Albany hasn't been too dramatic. Gay marriage was punted in the senate yesterday, and the bill probably won't be revisited until next month. Senators and assemblymembers are enjoying their Veterans Day holiday without having voted on the deficit red ... More >>

Albany Special Sessions Grow Increasingly Less Special

​We know this stretches the definition of news, but the Albany special sessions haven't accomplished much in the way of deficit reduction. Sheldon Silver informs us the hard-working assembly has been churning out bills, including one inspired by the sad case of Leandra Rosado that will make it ... More >>

Albany Makes Kids Stay in Booster Seats Until Age 8; Runnin' Scared Says, "Enough!"

​It's a wonder modern children survive past their teens, overprotected as they are from dirt, walking, etc. Now we have the state demanding parents keep their kids in car booster seats until the age of eight. The old law let children out of the ass-cradles when they reached seven, but the new ... More >>

Friends of Joe Bruno Not Much Help

For a guy who was supposed to have been the most widely admired man in the Capitol Region, Joe Bruno so far hasn't gotten a lot of help from his friends. Yesterday's unhelpful testimony at the former state senate leader's fraud trial in federal court in Albany came from one of his former top aides ... More >>

That's Carl Paladino, with one "L" -- and boy is he pissed!

A reader gently notes that we gave Buffalo businessman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino too many L's in his name. So we went to double check. And boy, are we glad we did.

Governor Paterson Finally Gets One of Them "Weblogs"

​Governor Paterson has hopped on the blog train with Straight Talk, Straight Answers, which would be far more interesting if it were called Crooked Talk, Crooked Answers, but we suppose that sort of thing doesn't fly in Albany. The governor and senior administration officials say they will use ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Goes to Albany, Where Lobbyists Are Waiting

​Governor Paterson has hopped on the blog train with Straight Talk, Straight Answers, which would be far more interesting if it were called Crooked Talk, Crooked Answers, but we suppose that sort of thing doesn't fly in Albany. The governor and senior administration officials say they will use ... More >>

Before Roe v. Wade: Fighting Over Abortion in Albany

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. March 25, 1971, Vol. XVI, No. 12 A holy war in Albany for the 'Right to Life' By Robin Reisig The New York State legislature is probably going to practice medicine again this spring. Abortion medicine. Catholics opposed to killing "th ... More >>

The Peggy Lipton Affair Takes Down Another Albany Big Shot

​We got yet another fascinating look inside the Albany favors factory yesterday when Andrew Cuomo released his latest revelation in the state pension fund scandal. Pat Lynch, the uber-lobbyist and close friend and ally of Sheldon Silver, was slapped with a half-million-dollar fine and banned f ... More >>

Nik Wallenda, Brave Soul, Approved to Cross Niagara Falls by Tightrope

Last time around​As the legislation session in Albany grinds on, and with the gay marriage vote still undecided, New York lawmakers approved Nik Wallenda of the storied Flying Wallendas to traverse Niagara Falls via tightrope. "I'm thrilled to death ... It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportu ... More >>

Occupy Albany, One of the Longest-Running Occupations, Is Being Evicted

Dan RobinsProtesters have formed a human chain around Occupy Albany's info tent. ​Occupy Albany, one of the longest-lasting Occupy encampments -- and the only one to issue specific demands -- is currently being evicted, according to Capital Tonight's Twitter feed. The Albany occupiers recent ... More >>

NY Redistricting: Untangling Boundaries and Adding a New Hispanic Majority District

​New Yorkers may want to ensure that they have fair representation in our fine democratic system, but sometimes it can be difficult to get jazzed up about the nitty-gritty of mapmaking. But new technology available this redistricting cycle is making it easier for advocates and academics to get ... More >>