Felix Ortiz

Happy 420, Stoners: Should Fake Pot In New York Really Be More Illegal Than Real Pot?

Members of the New York state Assembly -- on both sides of the aisle -- showed support yesterday for a bill that would criminalize synthetic marijuana. As we pointed out in our post about the bill, if it becomes law, it would make fake weed more illegal than real weed.Marijuana was decriminalized in ... More >>

Assembly Members Want To Criminalize Fake Weed (Real Weed Still De-Criminalized In New York)

Members of the New York state Assembly want to criminalize fake marijuana that's often sold at head shops and tobacco stores -- which seems hilarious considering real marijuana has been de-criminalized in the Empire State since 1977.Governor Andrew Cuomo already has banned synthetic marijuana (meani ... More >>

Cuomo, Bloomberg Take Pissing Match With Teachers Unions Public. Union's Response: "Oh, For Pete's Sake"

​Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg just issued a joint publicity stunt press release announcing that they will be donating $72,000 to a Hispanic advocacy group to replace the donation two teacher's unions yanked from the organization in protest of Cuomo's pension refo ... More >>

Report Gives Mike Bloomberg's Polemic School Closure Policy an 'F'

​A new report released last week comes down hard on the mayor's record of shutting down schools that aren't performing well. Mike Bloomberg and the Deptartment of Education can add it to the list of grievances and criticisms that have been thrown at them so far this year (He demonizes teachers ... More >>

Chefs Don't All Have Big Kitchens; Foodspotting Raises $3M

​Think you could be a better cook if only you had a kitchen like a five-star chef? Maybe not. Mehangir Mehta of the newly opened Mehtaphor, Anita Lo of Annisa, and husband-and-wife team Jo-Ann Makovitzky and Marco Moreira of Tocqueville and 15 East are among chefs with tiny apartment kitchens. ... More >>

New Yorkers Plot Invasion of Arizona, Plus Boycotts. All Talk at This Point.

No, it's not yet like the state v. state fight in 2001, when the Yankees played the Diamondbacks in the World Series. But now that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed her state's draconian Senate Bill 1070 into law, a number of New York immigration activists and politicians are angry enough to cr ... More >>

Bloomberg Ridicules Proposed Salt Ban

​Even Mayor Bloomberg's (public) anti-salt bias has its limits: on Saturday he used his weekly radio show to ridicule Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz's batshit proposal to ban salt from restaurants. Per the Post, the mayor said, "you have to have salt when you cook. I do. I use too much sal ... More >>

From the Annals of Idiocy: NY State Assemblyman Introduces Bill to Ban Salt

One New York assemblyman's interpretation of the average New York restaurant kitchen.​ If you thought the Mayor's voluntary salt reduction initiative was lacking in dictatorial muscle, then Felix Ortiz may be your man. In the kind of sadly deranged move that could have made only by someone who ... 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 >>

Cheek, In Review: 7 Days of Runnin' Scared

And how was your week? Our week began with a Top Model riot and ended with a days-long pitchfork uprising over A to the I to the G, ad nauseum. But we had some fun in between. Surely the highlight of the week was our Bill O'Reilly audio porn, which drew the attention of many hardcore aficionados ... More >>

Assemblyman Proposes Taxes on Booze, Adding $1.08 to Cost of Our Lunch

Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, having proposed a tax on strip clubs, now wants to tax alcoholic beverages. As the "pole tax" was meant to fund the state's anti-human-trafficking efforts, so this tax is supposed to fund "alcoholism and substance abuse prevention and treatment." Politicker describes Ortiz ... More >>

A Brooklyn Assemblyman's Earmarks Are Political Surrealism

A local pol gets singed for his attempt at pork for Aesthetic Realism

A Sobering Plan to End Subway Alcohol Advertising

Schumer, Levine Rally for Ball Field Vendors

Close-Up on Gowanus, Brooklyn

Minutemen Take Border Battle to 39th Street

Close-Up on Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Close-Up on Gowanus

Close-Up on Red Hook

Close-Up On: Sunset Park

Angel Falls

Looking Back at the Quixotic Brooklyn Councilmember

One-Bedroom Apartment in Housing Project