When is Bill de Blasio going to own the problems of New York City ?

Overcrowded public schools, more public students in homeless shelters, hospital closures : the distraught de Blasio administration desperately trying to "spin" its way out of problems with rhetoric and deceptive mailers

RELATED 38 Percent of Applicants Did Not Get a "Universal" Pre-Kinder "Offer" (WNYC) Sources : de Blasio aide pushed rent increase (Crains New York Business) For de Blasio, Deals, Drama and (Maybe) Progress (The New York Times) SHAME : de Blasio mailer praises LICH closure (Bill de Blasio Sold Out) "Mayor's Fund to Advance NYC" is full of notorious developers (Queens Crap) Public Schools in New York City Are Poorer and More Crowded, Budget Agency Finds (The New York Times)

MORE AND MORE, the political bloggers in New York City are seeing through the smoke and mirrors of the de Blasio administration. As the media awaits Mayor Bill de Blasio to address school overcrowding, conditions made worse by his expansion of pre-kinder, political bloggers are asking tougher questions. Do the stumbles by the de Blasio administration on the politically-motivated early release of Bishop Orlando Findlayter from jail, the de Blasio deal to strong-arm the Working Families Party to endorse the reelection campaign of neoliberal Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and other missteps point to a one-term mayoralty ? These are the hush-hush questions being asked amongst activists and bloggers. Autonomous police reform activists see how Mayor de Blasio implicitly approves of the arrest of over 240 subway artists and performers so far this year under controversial "shock and awe" NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton. These same autonomous police reform activists also see how the mayor's puppet in the City Council, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, allocated over $7 million in taxpayer dollars to community groups that guard the veal pen of nonprofit police reform activism from the inside. As the summer heat bears down on New Yorkers, their patience is going to wear thin with how the mayor is dragging his feet on long, outstanding reforms for which activists have waited over 15 years. For example, instead of saving Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, a move that could have been made revenue-neutral by just entering into a hospital licensing agreement between the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation and a new operator, the mayor did nothing to save LICH. The failed opportunity to save LICH keeps in place a decades-long, state plan to keep closing community hospitals to make radical cuts to the Medicaid program by denying expensive healthcare procedures to the poor and to people of color. Now, to cover his tracks, Mayor de Blasio has asked Berlin Rosen operative Dan Levitan to fabricate deceptive community mailers, trying to sell the spiel that the luxury condo conversion of LICH is actually a community "win." New Yorkers are a bright bunch of people. They know a scam when they see one. The sad story of what happened to LICH under Mayor de Blasio's watch, as are the on-going threat of NYPD's discriminatory "broken windows theory" of policing and the unaddressed problems with public education, point to a moment of truth for the de Blasio administration. Is he going to deflect blogger's rightful questions about his duplicitous political machinations into a problem for which his teams and teams of public relations operatives plan to blame the media, or is Mayor de Blasio going to own the problems of New York City -- including the very ones he creates himself ?

Questions about Full-Page NYTimes Open Letter to Pope About Homeless QUILTBAG Youth Services

Was the Controversial Full-Page New York Times Ad Shaming Catholic Pope Francis A Complete Waste of Money ?

The cost of an open "plea to Pope Francis on behalf of troubled gay youths needing housing, healthcare and other basic necessities" printed as a full-page advertisement in last Sunday's edition of The New York Times may have been an expensive waste of money, according to a post published yesterday on the blog of San Francisco activist Michael Petrelis.

• RELATED : Gay Homeless Org Wasted $150,000 on NYT Pope Francis Ad (The Petrelis Files)

The open letter, penned by Carl Siciliano, pictured above, the executive director of a Manhattan shelter for homeless QUILTBAG youth, the Ali Forney Center, was estimated to cost approximately $150,000 to be printed by The New York Times, and the cost was paid for by chichi furniture makers Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, the blogger Mr. Petrelis wrote.

Once a highly visible activist when he lived in New York, Mr. Petrelis periodically follows New York politics and activism, blogging from San Francisco about these issues on the World Wide Web. When Mr. Petrelis first approached Mr. Siciliano about the cost of the advertisement, Mr. Siciliano was evasive, directing Mr. Petrelis to the furniture makers, who paid for the advertisement.

2014 04 13 Ali Forney Center - Open Letter to the Pope (Pope Francis) - Full Page Advertisement in The New...

Mr. Petrelis sought to open up a dialogue with Mr. Siciliano over the possible misuse of $150,000 in donor money to pay for a one-time, full-page advertisement, but Mr. Siciliano ended communication with Mr. Petrelis after issuing a denial, forcing Mr. Petrelis to blog about the issue and, later, circulating a link to his blog post to several New York City activists, including some journalists. Mr. Petrelis's e-mail was subsequently forwarded amongst New York activists. "In my view, the funds were wasted on a PR stunt that did nothing of direct benefit to Ali Forney Center clients, but sure bought a lot of gushing media and blogger coverage," Mr. Petrelis wrote on his blog, adding, "I say that money could have been put to much better use paying for motel vouchers or subsidizing apartments for homeless New York City gay youths."

In trying to hold Mr. Siciliano accountable for the possible misuse of $150,000 in donor funds for a one-time public relations "stunt," Mr. Petrelis and other activists noted that Mr. Siciliano and his donors have arguably wasted a large sum of money hoisting shame or blame onto the Catholic pope in Rome for conditions in New York City over which the pope has no real responsibility.

• RELATED : Homeless Youths File Federal Lawsuit Against New York City (NYC : News & Analysis)

Over three months ago, a class action of homeless New York City youths filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court. The Legal Aid Society, acting as counsel to the plaintiffs, sued New York City, demanding the full resources to finally and fully provide shelter to all homeless youths in New York City, as required by law. When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his first preliminary budget, his administration promised to "eventually spend $12 million a year to fund programs for homeless youth, including queer youth," Gay City News reported. But the $12 million isn't enough to full fund the provision of shelter to the estimated 3,800 homeless youths in New York City. At $12 million, the spending comes out to less than $3,160 per year per homeless youth -- which comes out to about the cost of one month's rent for the average New York apartment. At that funding, the promised budget allocation isn't enough for rent, much less sufficient for healthcare and other basic services, which Mr. Siciliano was trying to shame the Catholic Church into providing.

Mayor de Blasio's proposed $12 million budget allocation is woefully insufficient to fully provide shelter for homeless youths, even though the federal and state laws require the city to make this provision to any homeless youths ages 16 to 20, who request shelter, according to the Legal Aid Society's class action lawsuit. Even though the population of homeless youths are estimated to number about 3,800, the New York City budget only makes 253 shelter beds available for homeless youths.

In the wake of the de Blasio administration's failed homeless youth policy comes the Ali Forney Center donors funding what was basically an attack ad against Pope Francis, even though it's the city's legal responsibility to fully provide shelter to all homeless youths. It's not known why Mr. Siciliano, the Ali Forney Center, and their donors would try to muddy responsibility from rolling up to the mayor, unless Mr. Siciliano was trying to score political points by providing political cover to the mayor's failed policy in exchange for a greater allocation of the mayor's nominal expansion of homeless youth funding, a predicament predicted under a de Blasio city budget that is being squeezed by high expectations after nearly a decade of unmet economic needs under the former Bloomberg-Quinn administration. Rather than admit the reality of the economic pressures on the New York City budget, the mayor spun an token, yet wholly insufficient, increase in homeless youth funding as a "win" -- even though it doesn't fully address the issue, as required by law.

Let's hope that Mr. Petrelis's blog posting, and the circulation of his e-mail among New York activists and journalists, will help restore the focus of homeless youth responsibility back on City Hall -- and not on Vatican City.

Brooklyn boy, 13, shot in head, triggers debate about NYPD focus on broken windows policing

PUBLISHED : TUES, 15 APR 2014, 10:51 PM
UPDATED : MON, 21 APR 2014, 05:48 PM

A couple of New Yorkers, who called into tonight's broadcast of "NY1 The Call," predicted a dangerous summer of crime -- but they are basing their predictions on unfounded fears and other possible biases.

Matt, Astoria on @NY1thecall: "This is the tip of the iceberg with end of #stopandfrisk."

— NY1 - The Call (@NY1thecall) April 16, 2014

The police department uses tragic accidents, like the sad shooting of Gama Droiville, 13 of Brooklyn, to fan the flames of fear to accept more policing.

• RELATED : Gama Droiville was on Flatbush Ave. near Beverly Road with his aunt when he was hit twice by stray bullets around noon Monday, cops said. He was taken to Kings County Hospital Center in serious but stable condition. Doctors said the eighth-grader was in danger of losing his wounded eye, his family said. (Boy, 13, shot in head twice after getting caught in Brooklyn crossfire * The New York Daily News)
• RELATED : The five men wrongly convicted in the infamous Central Park jogger rape case want Mayor Bill de Blasio to explain why he hasn't kept his promise to settle their lawsuit, even after more than 100 days in office. ("Central Park Five" Push de Blasio to Keep Promise to Settle Their Lawsuit * NY1)

But the New York Police Department, headed by the controversial police commissioner William Bratton, openly advocates increasing policing of the poor and people of color under a policing theory known as "broken windows," which dictates that stopping low-level crimes will catch criminals before they commit more severe crimes. Commissioner Bratton also refuses to abandon use of the unconstitutional police practice known as "stop-and-frisk," which has been shown to illegally target the poor and people of color.

But the tragic shooting of the young Mr. Droiville should be an opportunity for voters to demand that the police department should end its controversial tactics that target the wrong people. Stop-and-frisk does not take guns off the street, as has been proven by stop-and-frisk statistics from the New York Civil Liberties Union. Instead, unconstitutional police tactics destroy lives by illegally stopping innocent people without cause and then finding ways to give them tickets or summonses, all in an attempt to meet police quotas for documenting low-level crimes or infractions. For example, when police stopped Jerome Murdough, a veteran, he was arrested solely because he was homeless. Mr. Murdough was detained in Rikers Island, where he died at the negligent hands of law enforcement.

Since the mayoralty of Rudolph Giuliani, New Yorkers have been over-policed to the point that crime statistics, if they are to be believed, show that the city is now the safest it's been in a very long time. Yet, dramatic shooting accidents, like the one that injured the young Mr. Droiville, are used to stir up public fears that will lead to more over-policing that will keep destroying the lives of innocent people. More often than not, New Yorkers should feel safer among other New Yorkers. Sometimes, it's the police, who should give New Yorkers reason to worry.

Like in the case of Mr. Murdough, law enforcement have, under Commissioner Bratton's young second term in office, already injured other New Yorkers. During another crackdown on low-level crimes, this time against pedestrians, police assaulted and battered a frail, elderly man, Kang Wong, aged 84, for jaywalking. Another elderly man, aged 69, was run over by police driving a squad car on the Upper West Side.

The police crackdown on the poor and on people of color under Commissioner Bratton comes at a time when Mayor Bill de Blasio is trying to brandish his "progressive" laurels. Mayor de Blasio promised to end the "Tale of Two Cities" that unfairly treats people with the least worse than the people with the most. But the mayor's vision is at odds with his own police commissioner.

Further, the NYPD's obsession with the policing of low-level crimes comes against a backdrop where public corruption runs rampant from Albany to City Hall. There is no municipal prosecution of political corruption, financial racketeering, and campaign finance scandals, but the poor must face getting stopped-and-frisked, ticketed for infractions when they are not first battered or run over by the police, and then, if the poor are arrested for being homeless, they face the prospect of losing their lives in dangerous conditions in the municipal jail system for lack of a humane shelter system in New York City.

Callers on tonight's broadcast of "NY1 The Call" heard from people, who had let their emotions and fears get the best (or worst) of them, and these callers advocated for more "proactive" policing. Other callers were more cautious about advocating for more aggressive policing based on the NYPD's history of abusing its authority.

Nastaran, Harlem on @NY1thecall: "Don't want to bring back heavy-handed policing, we know detrimental effect it has on neighborhoods."

— NY1 - The Call (@NY1thecall) April 16, 2014

• RELATED : New York is the country’s largest city and one of its most progressive but since 2001 it’s also been at the forefront of some of the most regressive and unconstitutional anti-terrorism tactics. (Mayor Bill de Blasio's decision to end the NYPD's controversial Muslim surveillance program started under former Commissioner Ray Kelly has more to do with politics than with justice * The Daily Beast)

Fighting to reform this broken system is a group of activists, New Yorkers Against Bratton, who last Friday publicly delivered outside police headquarters a community report and speak-out marking the first 100 days of the second Bratton tenure. Until the police commissioner, and the mayor who made his regressive appointment, end each of the crackdown on low-level crimes in public transportation systems, the attempts at coordinated sweeps of homeless New Yorkers, and the mayor's "Vision Zero" initiative, the poor and people of color will get no justice from the city's law enforcement. Instead of using non-violent methods, like buy-back programs, to take guns off the streets, the police want to continue to erode public trust by using tactics that target innocent people based on their economic status, race, and practice of faith. Meanwhile, the rich and powerful will get away with crimes, for which the justice system never makes the resources, much less the political will, available to fully address.

Mayor Bill de Blasio blocks homeless shelter in Upper West Side

Is Mayor de Blasio backpedaling on homelessness in New York City ?

Mayor Bill de Blasio has opposed the conversion of a building into a homeless shelter after NIMBY opposition to the homeless shelter came from Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, The New York Post reported.

• RELATED : Mayor de Blasio accused of nixing proposed homeless shelter (The New York Post)
• RELATED : As Homeless Shelter Population Rises, Advocates Push Mayor on Policies (The New York Times)
• RELATED : Will Bill de Blasio truly reform aid and services to homeless ? (NYC : News & Analysis)

With growing numbers of people turning to the city's shelter system for housing, progressives have escalated pressure on the de Blasio administration to address the underlying determinants that are exacerbating the homeless population in New York City.

"Last year was the first time the number of homeless people sleeping each night in shelters exceeded 50,000," The New York Times reported.

On the eve of Mayor de Blasio's inauguration, the Legal Aid Society filed a class action lawsuit against the city on behalf of homeless youths, demanding from the city the full resources to provide shelter to homeless youths, as required by law. But many liberal groups, including the administrators of homeless LGBT shelters, have tried to de-escalate the pressure on the administration into making piecemeal or token gestures to address homelessness.

MRT Hospital Closings, Healthcare Cuts' Impact on Mental Health, Safety Net Care

From the Demand A Hospital listserv :

Dear All :

Some recent and past article links on the impact of hospital closings and other healthcare cuts to New York City's mental health, homeless, and safety net care :

• The death of a mentally ill veteran in an overheated cell at Rikers Island exposed fundamental flaws in New York’s homeless and healthcare systems, members of the City Council said on Thursday. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/nyregion/new-york-council-sees-flawed-mental-health-system.html)
• The president of The Doe Fund is outraged that a homeless man was arrested, and later died in Rikers Island, instead of being taken to a shelter. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/opinion/arresting-the-homeless.html)
• Last year, the New York State Office of Mental Health unveiled a sweeping plan to consolidate and reduce the number of state-run psychiatric hospitals from 24 to 15. (http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Nine-state-psychiatric-centers-to-close-in-plan-4657459.php)
Holliswood Hospital, a 127-bed private psychiatric hospital in Queens, closed in 2013. (http://www.wnyc.org/story/312359-holliswood-hospital-queens-closing-its-doors/)
• Many of the poor people who rely on safety-net hospitals will have to look for healthcare elsewhere after a government subsidy critical to hospitals’ survival is being sharply reduced under the new health law. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/09/health/cuts-in-hospital-subsidies-threaten-safety-net-care.html)

After the closing of St. Vincent's, it looks like we lost more than just critical hospital facilities. Have New York City elected officials also lost their charitable concern for those with the least ?

Thanks for all that you do.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tell Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stop closing our hospitals : 1 (518) 474-8390

You can also tweet your concerns to Gov. Cuomo at : @NYGovCuomo

Will Bill de Blasio truly reform aid and services to homeless ?

The New York City Mayor is seeking a change in New York State's budget in order to help provide rent subsidies to homeless families.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been engaged in a public public relations battle with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the city's request for a state budget amendment that would provide rent subsidies for up to 2,800 families a year, "costing a total of $21 million in the first year and growing to $115 million annually by the fifth year," The New York Times reported.

• RELATED : Cuomo and de Blasio Clash Again, This Time Over Homelessness (The New York Times)

While the mayor tries to shame the governor into approving the city's request for a state budget amendment, the mayor has yet to publicly commit to settling a class action lawsuit filed by homeless youths against New York City for failing to provide adequate shelter, as required by law, to minors.

• RELATED : Homeless Youths File Federal Lawsuit Against New York City (NYC : News & Analysis)
• RELATED : Bronx Man Dies After Waiting Hours For E.R. To Treat His Rash (NYC : News & Analysis)
• RELATED : Cuts in Hospital Subsidies Threaten Safety-Net Care (The New York Times)

As the mayor tries to use the state budget amendment to shore up the publicity of his efforts to address skyrocketing homelessness in New York City, former mayoral candidate and head of The Doe Fund George McDonald faulted New York City law enforcement for arresting and incarcerating a homeless former Marine for the sole crime of seeking warmth over a freezing February evening. The homeless former Marine, Jerome Murdough, was placed in deplorable conditions at Rikers Island, where he died while in custody as a result of neglect by city correctional officers.

After recent political popularity polls showed the mayor's favorability ratings sinking after his personal vendetta against charter schools leader Eva Moskowitz, Mayor de Blasio has been trying to shore up his credentials with the liberal wing of city Democrats.

But his efforts to deal with homelessness have thus far been incremental and do not address the larger determinants that make people lose shelter.

The state budget amendment, that will benefit less than 3,000 families, will take five years to fully roll out, if it secures and keeps its precarious funding. After another scandal over the mayor's motorcade openly violating traffic safety laws, the mayor's office announced reforms to two of the largest city-owned family shelters, according to The New York Observer. The mayor's move to reform those two shelters followed an exposée by The New York Times that revealed that homeless families with children living in the two shelters endured deplorable conditions, including "cockroaches, spoiled food, violence and insufficient heat."

Several weeks ago, one homeless man, who suffered through many indignities at the hands of the city's impossible homeless system, demonstrated that New York City makes it a practice to deny housing social workers to people who come in and out of the city's shelters, leading some activists to charge that the city cynically doesn't have to provide shelter if it doesn't first provide housing social workers.

de Blasio, Cuomo Playing Tit-for-Tat Politics With Homeless

PUBLISHED : TUES, 25 MAR 2014, 08:49 PM
UPDATED : THURS, 27 MAR 2014, 09:04 AM

Mayor de Blasio shaming Gov. Cuomo over state homeless budget request ; meanwhile, Mayor de Blasio ignoring homeless youths class action lawsuit

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is deeply involved in brokering the backroom deals that will produce the state's budget. Since there's been a very public conflict between the governor and the mayor over the mayor's stalled request to increase taxes for the most wealthy New Yorkers and the mayor's plan to close charter schools, both of which the governor has opposed, the mayor appears to be seeking political retribution against the governor by making it look like the governor is, in turn, stalling on the city's request for a change in the state's budget in respect of homeless resources.

Mayor de Blasio is seeking "permission to use state funds for rental subsidies," Capital New York is reporting, and it's not clear why the mayor submitted his request so late into the state's budget process.

"As everyone knows, the budget is due in less than a week so we can assume the city's proposal will be for next year, because at this point it's too late to take up anything significant this year," the governor's spokesperson Melissa DeRosa was quoted as having said, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

• RELATED : Gov. Cuomo administration on Mayor de Blasio homeless request : ‘‘Too late’’ (Capital New York)
• RELATED : Mayor de Blasio Blames ‘Miscommunication’ for Spat Over Homeless Subsidies (Politicker)
• RELATED : Homeless Youths File Federal Lawsuit Against New York City (NYC : News & Analysis)

“According to the governor’s office, the city’s efforts on its homelessness prevention plan paled in comparison to its push for prekindergarten financing : Mr. de Blasio’s preliminary proposal was less than two pages and omitted crucial details, and the city never scheduled a meeting," The New York Times is reporting, adding that, "The mayor’s office said Cuomo administration officials did not respond to a request for a meeting from an official in the Department of Homeless Services. The governor’s office said the request was merely a text message to an assistant to the deputy secretary for human services.”

While Mayor de Blasio has managed to crash Gov. Cuomo's intricate backroom budget dealmaking, Gov. Cuomo has had to play down the latest public flashpoint between the two. "Anything we can do, I would want to do," Gov. Cuomo said during a press conference, according to Politicker. But, Gov. Cuomo said, "It’s late in the day to put something in the actual budget because the budget train has basically left the station,” he added, sounding irritated, “So, to start a new proposal, it’s too late.”

As Mayor de Blasio is shaming Gov. Cuomo over the unlikelihood that the state will grant the city's homeless budget amendment, Mayor de Blasio has yet to settle in his own right the class action lawsuit filed by homeless youths, who are denied shelter by New York City, a violation of law. If the mayor were truly committed to help people in homeless shelters, then the mayor would settle the homeless youths' lawsuit.

• RELATED : It Saves Millions To Simply Give Homeless People A Place To Live (ThinkProgress)

Recent revelations further show that New York City systematically denies housing social workers to people, who seek shelter in its homeless program. By denying housing social workers, the city government does not become obligated to finding permanent housing for people in and out of its homeless shelter system, one of the largest reasons that people in homeless shelters face a catch-22.

• UPDATE : Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reopened the door Wednesday to Mayor Bill de Blasio's bid to secure state funds to combat homelessness, with a Cuomo administration source saying the governor is "trying to actively resolve" the issue. (Cuomo relents on NYC homeless aid request * Newsday)

Nanny Bloomberg Taiwanese animation satire viral YouTube video

Published on Mar 7, 2013

Michael Bloomberg nanny state: when will the mayor of New York City stop his madness?

At first Michael Bloomberg came for the trans fats. But we didn't eat at fast food restaurants, so we didn't say anything.

Then Michael Bloomberg came for the salt. But we only use pepper, so we didn't say anything.

Then Michael Bloomberg banned food donations to city homeless shelters. But we are not homeless, so we didn't say anything.

Then Michael Bloomberg came for the baby formula because he wants moms to breast feed. But we are not newborn babies, so we didn't say anything.

Then Michael Bloomberg restricted painkillers at city hospitals. The poor will just have to suffer a bit, he said.

Then he came for our 16-ounce sodas, forcing everyone to buy two. What a jerk!

What's next Michael Bloomberg? Let's ban all cars from the street. After all, walking is healthier than driving.

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Bloomberg: "No One Is Sleeping On The Streets"

#madeinny @mikebloomberg #homeless "no one is sleeping on the street"?! Take the subway b4 rush hour, walk around NYC & observe. Seriously?!

— Eleni Bourinaris (@EleniBourinaris) February 19, 2013

Mike Bloomberg is blind to the homeless problem. No surprise.

Homeless advocates are criticizing Mayor Michael Bloomberg's assertion that "no one is sleeping on the streets," after he was asked today about a report that the city shelter system is turning away families during cold winter days. (NY1)

How can anybody take Mike Bloomberg seriously, if he is so blind to his own elitist worldview ? Will anybody take him seriously when he makes an endorsement in the mayoral campaign ?