Bill De Blasio

Speaker Squeaker

Friendly Fencing From Speaker Seekers

Welfare Chief: New Federal Law Could Soak City

Slope Weighs One-Way Byways

Two Term-Limits Rebels Run for Gotbaum's Seat

At Election Night Party, NY Dems Cheer, Pump Fists, Boo Palin

Staten Island's Molinari to Sue Over Term Limits

Gowanus Project Moves Forward, Builders Suffer Huge Losses

Case Against Term Limits Overturn Thrown Out of Court

A case requesting reinstatement of term limits, brought by councilmembers Bill De Blasio, Charles Barron, Tish James et alia and which began in Brooklyn on January 5, has been thrown out of court. Plaintiffs argued that the council's overturn of the limits was a violation of the civil rights of vot ... More >>

Quiet Hammerman Up for de Blasio's Council Seat

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn alerts us that Craig Hammerman has declared for the city council seat presumably to vacated by Bill de Blasio, who is running for Public Advocate. Hammerman has for 15 years been the District Manager of Community Board 6, and is a member of the New York Hall of Fame. Non ... More >>

A Thanksgiving NYC Honor Roll for Hard Times

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn alerts us that Craig Hammerman has declared for the city council seat presumably to vacated by Bill de Blasio, who is running for Public Advocate. Hammerman has for 15 years been the District Manager of Community Board 6, and is a member of the New York Hall of Fame. Non ... More >>

Slicing the Park Slope Pie

Could DiBrienza Wannabes Cost Lefties the Race?

HUD: The Horror Movie

A Big Fish Fries the Little Fish in Harlem-Brooklyn Mortgage Scam

Seduced and Abandoned

What HUD Knew—and Didn’t Do—About the Mortgage-Loan Scandal

Spit-Shining a Scandal

The Chilly Victims of the HUD Housing Scam Listen to Some Hot Air

Park Slope Scramble

Is the 39th CD De Blasio’s to Lose?

Council Chaos

Facing Bloomberg and Newness, Legislators Struggle to Organize

Where Credit Is Due

Council Plan Helps Landlords Do the Right Thing

Council Jihad

De Blasio Leads Unholy Union War on City's Campaign Finance Board

Council Orgy

Erasing term limits and contribution caps amid a speaker battle

Letters

Erasing term limits and contribution caps amid a speaker battle

Bloomberg's Term-Limits Coup: Heroes, Villains, and Wimps

Brutal brawling in the first throwdown of the 2009 elections

VID for Siegel, NARAL for Gillibrand, Johnson for Bloomberg (and Unemployment)

The Village Independent Democrats just announced their endorsements for the primaries. It's not the biggest Democratic club, but it's influential around these parts. The VID made mostly expected choices, among them Bill Thompson for Mayor, John Liu for Comptroller, and Richard Aborn for Manhattan D. ... More >>

Endorsement Fever! Aborn, Others Clean Up

The Times says today that Manhattan D.A. candidate Richard Aborn "Aims to Raise His Profile" in that race, and that he does so mainly via endorsements. We'll say -- his office alerts us to each one (other candidates are also encouraged to do so), and he's had plenty, most recently those of four Demo ... More >>

On Day of Rent Increases, Landlords Show Their Human Side in Ads

As the Albany coup has pretty much killed the proposed new rent laws, and a Rent Guidelines Board hearing is set for tonight that will certainly not go the tenants' way, the group that represents landlords has seen fit to advertise their humanity to the people who live in their buildings. The Times ... More >>

Bill de Blasio Thrown Off Ballot for Petition Error, Will Appeal

 There's a reason why political candidates take such care with their ballot petitions in New York; they are subject to notoriously arcane rules and can be easily challenged and denied. Councilmember Bill de Blasio, a strong contender for the office of Public Advocate, had his ballot application ... More >>

Denny's Gets Sued Over Salt; Hawaii to Kick Wienermobile to the Curb

 A man from New Jersey is suing Denny's for failing to warn him that his favorite item, the Moons Over My Hammy egg sandwich, was "loaded up with the salt." [NY Daily News] Brooklyn councilman Bill de Blasio has proposed that New York follow in Chicago's footsteps and pass a green food resolut ... More >>

Gerson 2nd City Candidate Thrown Off Ballot for Typo

​Another New York City elected official has been kicked off the ballot for apparently trivial reasons. First it was city councilmember Bill de Blasio, who was running a heady campaign for public advocate until last Thursday, when election officials found that the cover sheet on his packet of p ... More >>

de Blasio Petition Crisis Settled; Gerson (and now Jackson!) Still Waiting

The petition problems of Bill de Blasio (pictured) have been settled with the Board of Elections and he's back on the Democratic primary ballot for the public advocate nomination. No word yet about councilmember Alan Gerson, whose petition rejection we announced earlier and whose case is supposed to ... More >>

Barron Enraged at Bill de Blasio's Black Wife in Flyer

​We thought the mailer for Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio featuring his wife Chirlane -- who is black -- and their kids was cute, as the headline "He Gets It" could be interpreted all sorts of ways depending on the constituency. But councilmember Charles Barron -- who is black -- con ... More >>

Primary Culler: Green Leads in Public Advocate Race, But Can He Dodge a Runoff?

​Mark Green was the first New York City public advocate -- a sort of Mayoral VP and public busybody -- and, after a two-term interregnum by Betsy Gotbaum, he looks good to become the third. But it's not such a sure thing as it once looked. When Green announced for the race he actually scared ... More >>

Primary Day Continues with Flag-Burning Flyer

​Primary Day looks like it's going pretty much as usual -- that is, quietly -- though Azi Paybarah has found this last-minute flyer calling Manhattan city council candidate Ydanis Rodriguez an "anti-American flag burner." Rodriguez, considered the front-runner, has seven opponents and none has ... More >>

Election Night: At de Blasio Party, Shock, Then Euphoria

Over at his victory party in Dumbo, Bill de Blasio seemed shocked that he managed to get himself into a runoff for the office of Public Advocate with veteran candidate Mark Green. "This is a wonderful result -- amazing!" de Blasio said between hugs. "You kind of just get used to assuming it's not go ... More >>

Primary Over But -- Questions Remain!

Now that the poorly-attended primary election is over, what droplets of meaning can be wrung from it? Some people think Mark Green (pictured), who finished second to Brooklyn councilmember Bill de Blasio in the public advocate race and will face him in a runoff on September 29, is played out in New ... More >>

Mayor Thompson Could Mean "Fear of Going Out at Night" (Giuliani), "Detroit" (Bloomberg)

The Bloomberg-Giuliani victory tour of friendly city territories began with a bang in Borough Park, where the former Mayor told the annual Legislative Breakfast of the local Jewish Community Council that if Bill Thompson were elected, the city "could very easily be taken back to the way it was with ... More >>

Mayor Funds de Blasio, Defends Gay Cab Duo; Is Snubbed By Liu, Who's Attacked by Koch

​Despite winning his third term, Mayor Bloomberg is still giving away money, offering an extra $850,000 to incoming Public Advocate Bill de Blasio to supplement his tiny budget, which had been cut by more than half by the Mayor and his city council allies last year. The Mayor photogenically m ... More >>

MTA Passes New Doomsday Budget (Updated)

The MTA board just voted to pass that new budget with service cuts. MTA Chairman Jay Walder "stressed the preliminary nature of this proposal," says Second Avenue Sagas, which live-tweeted the meeting. SAS says board members stressed their "legal obligation to pass a balanced budget for 2010" befor ... More >>

Bill de Blasio Pleads with Bloomberg to Return to the Enlightened Homeless Policies of Rudy Giuliani

On Monday the Times ran an article saying new Public Advocate Bill de Blasio "Assails Bloomberg's Performance on Homelessness." This is curious, as de Blasio's pitch is described later in the article pithily thus: "Mr. de Blasio offered several suggestions on how to improve conditions for the homel ... More >>

Barrett: Role of Public Advocate Gets Endorsement in FDNY Discrimination Finding; No Wonder Bloomberg Still Wants to Kill the Job

Bill de Blasio's job as public advocate: something Mayor Bloomberg would love to eradicate​One surprise in Mike Bloomberg's State of the City speech this week was his failure to say anything about the long-promised charter revision commission, which is expected, among other things, to act on o ... More >>

Bill de Blasio to Landlords: You'll Be in Hot Water if Your Tenants Aren't

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is warning that he wants to more than double the fines for New York City landlords who don't heat their buildings for more than five days in a row. In 2008, there were 230,000 lack-of-heating complaints logged by the city, and tenants commonly take such dangerous meas ... More >>

New York's Ten Worst Landlords, Part 1

In a city of slumlords and broke-ass apartment buildings, these stand out.

Goldman Sachs Will Not Buy Their (Political) Love!

​Goldman Sachs has said they will not spend their money on political advertising, showing what the New York Times calls "an unexpected sign of restraint" following a Supreme Court ruling (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission) stating that on the basis of free speech, corporations can ... More >>

New Yorkers Protest Target's Donation to Anti-Gay Candidate

​New Yorkers unhappy with Target's recent $150,000 donation to anti-gay-rights Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer gathered yesterday at the flagship Target in Brooklyn to protest. The rally, organized by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Councilmember Letitia James, and MoveOn.org ... More >>

Let's Play, "Who's My Landlord?"

The new game that's sweeping New York's crumbling rental rat-traps

Jumaane Williams, Brooklyn Councilman, Detained for Walking on Sidewalk

Yesterday afternoon during the West Indian Day Parade, in the midst of various incidences of gun violence, there was another incident involving the NYPD. Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane D. Williams, along with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio's aide Kirsten John Foy, was handcuffed and briefly detained by ... More >>

100 Most Powerless New Yorkers

A 'power list' for the rest of us

Bill de Blasio, John Liu, and Scott Stringer: Mr. Mayor, Why Did You Talk About Teachers That Way?

​After Mayor Mike Bloomberg finished his State of the City speech in the Bronx, Runnin' Scared tripped over many reporters and shoved a recorder in the face of a few relevant pols to get their reactions. We reached Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Comptroller John Liu, and Manhattan Borough Pr ... More >>

Brian Lehrer Discusses the Voice's "100 Most Powerless New Yorkers" on WNYC (AUDIO)

​WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show did a segment on "The 100 Most Powerless New Yorkers" on its Martin Luther King, Jr. day show this morning. Audio of the segment is embedded below. Our segment looked at the silly side of "power lists," and at the serious side of some of those we included on our pow ... More >>

Public Advocate Bill De Blasio Criticizes The City for Criticizing His Report On Child Deaths

​Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who plans on running for mayor in 2013, released a report over the weekend on child deaths in the City -- calling on the Administration for Children's Services to implement a more comprehensive system for assessing cases of abuse and neglect. De Blasio argued ... More >>

Mayor's Budget: No Tax Increases and No Layoffs of Teachers, Police Officers, or Firefighters

Sam LevinElected officials and nonprofit groups rallied this morning before the mayor announced his budget.​Announcing the city's annual budget today, Mayor Mike Bloomberg said he would not be increasing taxes and he would not be laying off teachers, police officers, or firefighters. He said i ... More >>