Christine Quinn

LGBT Purists to Christine Quinn: We'd Love a Gay Mayor. Just Not You.

Twenty NYC Middle Schools' Days To Be Extended, Kids Will Probably Not Be Happy

Our collective inner child is kicking and screaming over this story. But our collective adult self is affirmatively nodding in agreement that maybe this will actually help students. Growing up sucks. Yesterday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Education Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announce ... More >>

Anti-Quinn Coalition Takes Its Campaign to the Streets

Two weeks after making news with a television advertisement attacking Christine Quinn, the "anyone-but-Quinn" coalition NYC Is Not For Sale is taking their message out into the streets of New York. Yesterday the campaign set up outside six subway stops across the city, handing out plastic cigars an ... More >>

Christine Quinn Threatens Media Who Run Ad She Doesn't Like

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is having a rough week so far. For one thing, new Quinnipiac poll shows the mayoral front-runner's numbers hitting a five-month low. She's also facing a new attack ad paid for by a coalition of labor and animal-rights groups. The ad got some media attention earl ... More >>

Sal Albanese Duels Bill de Blasio Over Quinn's Member Items Mishap

How do you create more mayoral drama? Start fighting over who's better at dealing with previous mayoral drama. Yesterday, we reported on the Halloran/Smith scandal's foray into the electoral spectrum. News swirled around the fact that Councilman Dan Holleran had planned to use Council/taxpayers' fu ... More >>

Halloran/Smith Scandal Quickly Becomes Latest Mayoral Drama For Quinn

As you may have heard yesterday, City Councilman Dan "America's Top Heathen" Holleran is in a whole lot of trouble. Along with State Senator Malcolm Smith, the two were involved in a rigging scheme that planned to posit Smith as a Democrat switching over to the Republican side to run for Mayor of ... More >>

Even With Bloomberg's Veto, Paid Sick Day Bill Expected To Pass City Council

Looks like Christine Quinn has won... on a few levels. Last Friday, we reported on the paid sick day bill in City Council, where it's been garnering support for a few years now. The legislation sought to mandate employers to give their workers at least five paid sick days if they had twenty or more ... More >>

The Candidate Shift: Quinn In Talks For Paid Sick Day Bill

As we learned on Wednesday with the Community Safety Act, a mayoral race can do wonders to political priorities. This week, the paid sick day bill in the City Council has been on a legislative roller-coaster. At first, Christine Quinn, using her privileges as City Council Speaker, refused to allow ... More >>

Christine Quinn: "I'll Cut Their Balls Off!"

Mayoral wannabe Christine Quinn apparently doesn't like to be crossed. When she is, she's been known to utter the immortal phrase, "I'll cut their balls off!" according to the New York Times.

Pedro Serrano, Second Whistleblower Cop, Testifies In Stop and Frisk Trial; Council Moves Toward Independent Monitor

A second police officer took the witness stand today to testify that illegal quotas for arrests, summons and stop and frisks drove his precinct's crime strategy. Pedro Serrano worked in the same Bronx precinct as Officer Adhyl Polanco, who testified on Tuesday in the class action lawsuit challengin ... More >>

Comptroller John Liu Will Officially Join Mayoral Race On Sunday

Looks like we have another candidate to keep in mind come November. The New York Observer's Colin Campbell reports that multiple sources have told the publication that Comptroller John Liu will announce his bid for City Hall this Sunday. Like with Christine Quinn's official video released a few day ... More >>

It's Official: Christine Quinn Wants To Be Your Next Mayor

Yesterday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn released this video to the Internet. And her campaign tweeted the below out, too. Both were an affirmative nod to New Yorkers that, yes, she is officially running for Mayor and, yes, she is fighting for the middle class. If elected, Ms. Quinn will be t ... More >>

Christine Quinn Thinks The Rent Is Too Damn High, Too

Being this outright defensive about the middle class is probably the most blatant difference between Ms. Quinn and her boss. Yesterday, the City Council Speaker gave her State of the City address - or, basically, What I'll Do As Mayor - and mentioned the income tax bloc in between the poor and rich ... More >>

The Gawker/Christine Quinn Gun Owner Database Debacle

We were a bit afraid that this would become a "thing." Two weeks ago, we reported on the Journal News, a newspaper based in White Plains, published the names and addresses of all the gun owners in and around New York City. As a result, readers and media folk alike flipped out, leading one blogger ... More >>

Christine Quinn, Best Bud

The City Council Speaker's conspicuous Sandy presence

Christine Quinn Tells Chick-Fil-A to Get Out of NYC

Yesterday, we reported on the Chick-fil-A controversy that has been brewing across the country. Well, it looks like this story's heating up a bit.As the mayors of Boston, Chicago and San Fran all demanded for the organization to get the hell out of Dodge, our urban boss, Mr. Michael R ... More >>

Melissa Mark-Viverito, Bill de Blasio Call on City To Retire Carriage Horses

Around fifty people gathered on the steps of City Hall this afternoon to demand the City Council test out a prototype electric car that they hope can replace horse-drawn carriages. That proposal, Intro. 86A, is sponsored in the City Council by Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. New Yorkers for Clean, Li ... More >>

Christine Quinn, Bride To Be This Month, Reacts To Obama's Gay Matrimony Approval

Christine Quinn, the Speaker of the City Council, frontrunner for being the Democratic nomination as the next mayor, and bride to be this month, gave her pleasant reaction to Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriages this afternoon. Says Quinn, in the above video, "For me, someone's who's getting m ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg On Living Wage Disagreement With Christine Quinn: 'I'm Going to Her Wedding'

The ongoing disagreement between Mike Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on living wage legislation isn't damaging their relationship, the mayor said today. Or at least, he's still planning on attending her upcoming wedding -- and doesn't think the controversial bills are going to ... More >>

Mayor Bloomberg Compares Living Wage Bill to Communism, Says He'll Sue

Yesterday, we reported that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn lost support from a major business group for a living wage bill that she has been carefully negotiating. That disappointing loss for Quinn, an expected mayoral candidate, doesn't seem to make much of a difference for Mayor Mike Bloom ... More >>

Christine Quinn Loses Major Business Group Support for Living Wage Bill; Says 'Writing Legislation is Difficult'

Christine Quinn, faced with the challenging task of simultaneously negotiating the interests of labor groups and business groups in a new living wage bill, has lost the support of the city's major business organization -- a disappointment for the City Council Speaker, who is expected to run for mayo ... More >>

Christine Quinn Tells Tale of Grandmother's Escape from Titanic 100 Years Ago (Yes, It Actually Happened)

In the race to be the next mayor of New York City, there's one thing that definitely makes City Council Speaker Christine Quinn unique: Her grandmother survived the Titanic. Though she's been making the rounds telling the story this month, for many years, it was a secret. Quinn, who is expected ... More >>

Christine Quinn Touts Role in CCRB Deal, So Why Won't She Fill Vacant Board Seat

City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn this week touted her role in the deal which expands the prosecutorial role for the Civilian Complaint Review Board against police officers accused of misconduct. But, oddly, Quinn (at right, behind Mayor Bloomberg) has left vacant the seat of ... More >>

NYU2031, the Expansion Plan of the Century, is a Mayoral Game

It was a given that NYU's expansion plan would create a commotion -- any proposal cramming 2.4 million square feet, which is about equal to the size the Empire State Building, into a six-block radius will have that effect. The Manhattan Community Board, a collection of citizens from t ... More >>

Mayor Bloomberg Agrees with Christine Quinn: Parks Dept. Should Control Spaces Like Zuccotti

​Mike Bloomberg agrees with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who hopes to replace him as mayor in 2013: Public spaces like Zuccotti Park should fall under the jurisdiction of the city's Parks Department and not private owners. Commenting on the ongoing debate around the rights of Occupy Wal ... More >>

Christine Quinn: City's Parks Dept. Might Want to Take Over Spaces Like Zuccotti Park

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor in 2013, spoke out this morning about the resurgence of Occupy Wall Street, suggesting that the city may want to rethink how it oversees public park spaces. Quinn, as Capital noted this morning, has generally been cautious abou ... More >>

New Legislation Goes After Employers Who Discriminate Against Unemployed Applicants

Some employers are sending a clear message through their job postings to those who most need work: If you're unemployed, stay away. But it may be a bit more difficult for employers in New York City to reject the unemployed, if legislation introduced today at City Hall passes. This legislation woul ... More >>

Freelancers, Rejoice! Christine Quinn Pushes Forward With Health Center Plan

In her state-of-the-city address last month, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor, announced that the City Council would work with the Freelancers Union to launch a flagship health center that would provide low-cost care to the city's self-employed residents. This ... More >>

Christine Quinn Likes it, Too! Another Mayoral Hopeful Supports Latino Congressional District

Christine Quinn is also a fan of a new proposed Latino congressional district. Yesterday, we reported on the growing support for a new majority Latino congressional district in New York City that would include parts of Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. Among the increasing number of pols who ... More >>

It's Christine Quinn's Turn! Mayoral Hopeful Delivers State of City Speech

Sam Levin​This story might sound familiar. A mayoral hopeful gets on stage and delivers a speech about the state of things. The elected official takes the opportunity to set the groundwork for a mayoral campaign -- appealing to future voters through announcements of new initiatives and prior ... More >>

Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, on the Living Wage Bill

When Speaker Christine Quinn presented her compromised version of the Living Wage Bill last week, we immediately wondered how it would affect retail-clothing workers, #47 on the Voice's list of the 100 Most Powerless New Yorkers. We got in touch with Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Whol ... More >>

Christine Quinn Presents Living Wage Bill Compromise, Pols Are Generally Happy

Some important news in the ongoing living wage battle in New York -- City Council Speaker Christine Quinn proposed today a compromise that would require higher wages at city-subsidized developments. Companies subsidized by the city would have to pay employees $10 an hour plus benefits, instead of th ... More >>

City Council Planning Lawsuit Over Homeless Shelter Policy

City Council plans to try and stop a new policy from the Mayor's administration that would require homeless people to prove they have nowhere else to go before they can be admitted into a shelter. Council Speaker Christine Quinn described the policy as "cruel and punitive"; the pending suit represen ... More >>

I Made Christine Quinn Laugh

​It can't be easy being City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the powerful lesbian who runs around making speeches and pushing things forward. But at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Post Pride bash the other night, I gave Quinn a light moment.

City Council Rethinks Alternate Side Parking

​Having a car in the city can be trying at the least, because not only do you have to navigate the traffic on a daily basis, but even when you're not driving the car you still have to move it to make way for street-cleaning services. Lucky for car owners, life might be getting much sweeter. Ne ... More >>

Christine Quinn Weighs the Possibility of a Fast-Food Ban

iboy daniel/FlickrKinda sums it all up.​This hasn't been the best week for our nation's fast food chains: Yesterday, President Obama signed the new health care bill, which included legislation requiring any restaurant with at least 20 outlets to post nutritional information on their menus. Rig ... More >>

Want to See a McDonald's Get Submerged by Flood Waters?

SUPERFLEX The consequences of capitalism are wet and wild.​ If, like Christine Quinn, you've always dreamed of seeing a fast-food restaurant get slowly swallowed by rising flood waters, here's your chance: for three more days, Chelsea's Peter Blum gallery is presenting SUPERFLEX: Flooded McDon ... More >>

Barrett: John Liu Names a Deputy Comptroller, Simcha Felder, Who Has Some Explaining To Do About His Views on Christine Quinn's Lesbianism

Given Simcha Felder's non-votes on Quinn, is he the best choice for deputy comptroller?​John Liu's announcement last week that he was appointing Brooklyn city councilman Simcha Felder to the post of deputy comptroller has stirred no controversy. Yet Felder is so out of step with Liu on gay and ... More >>

Crime Beat: Don't Shoot! I'm the New York City Council Speaker!

Trigger-unhappy council chief Christine Quinn demonstrates the wrong way to shoot your spouse. You know the holiday shopping season is in full gear when politicians step to the podium to rail against realistic-looking toy guns. Council Speaker Christine Quinn is the one not being realistic. Get a ... More >>

City To Be Less Gay This Weekend

​Expect the city to be a little less gay this weekend. Thousands of gay and lesbian New Yorkers will be heading out of town to attend the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and presumptive incoming Queens City Councilman Danny Drom have organized ... More >>

Barrett: Quinn's Surprisingly Weak Victory

​Council Speaker Christine Quinn's unimpressive win in her Chelsea district, garnering only 52 percent of the vote in a three-person race, has raised questions in many minds about whether she'll be able to hang on to her leadership post when the 51 members vote next January. There may be as ma ... More >>

New Idea for Ghost Condos: Developer Grants to House Families Making About $100K

The Bloomberg Administration has been talking lately about what to do with moribund condos left under-tenanted and sometimes unfinanced in the recession -- what Christine Quinn called the "tarnished trophies" of the late boom. Some have been opened to the homeless. Last week Elizabeth Dwoskin mentio ... More >>

Speaker Quinn Pads Campaign Staff with Council Staffers

In Mid-July, Jan Messerschmidt, the manager of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's re-election campaign, sent out a letter to supporters. In just over a month, Messerschmidt bragged, the campaign's "more than 90 volunteers" had logged thousands of door-to-door man hours, garnering enough signatu ... More >>

Bloomberg Shops Tape of Man Calling Christine Quinn a "Whore" in Front of Bill Thompson

We see Mayor Bloomberg is getting serious about his election campaign. The Post says his operatives sent them a tape of Bill Thompson not reacting when the co-owner of the delightful West Village Brit boite Tea and Sympathy called Christine Quinn a "whore." Restauranteur Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett also s ... More >>

Bloomberg, Quinn Seek Billions in Breaks for Businesses

You might think that the middle of a recession spawned by massive corporate malfeasance wouldn't be the best time to propose a giant tax break for corporations. But then, if you're Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, you might not. Crain's reports today that the dynamic duo of ... More >>

Democratic Mayoral Candidate Shouldn't Count on Chris Quinn's Backing

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told a Democratic Party club in her home base of Chelsea last night that she's not about to pledge to back her own party's mayoral nominee -- whoever it is. "When the Democratic primary is all said and done I will choose one candidate," she told the Chelsea ... More >>

Rape Game Stirs Outrage, Insane Rightwing Column

Over in Japan, they have this video game where you chase a woman and her two daughters and try to rape them. To make matters worse, it's not called "Jackson County Jail" or "Abu Ghraib Fantasy" or anything like that but, rather coldly, "Rapelay." Something Awful and others have known about this thi ... More >>

A City Income Tax Cut?

About 700,000 city residents live in households that earn less than $45,000 a year. Those households aren't required to pay state or federal income tax, but they still have to pay income tax in the city.Looking for ways to stimulate spending in a recession, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, alon ... More >>

Two Still Up to Challenge Christine Quinn