Is the Rudin Family eyeing their next real estate harvesting operation on the dead carcass of the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens ?
After he's done with St. Vincent's Hospital, it has been heard on the street that William Rudin is considering another real estate harvesting operation, this time at the Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens.
Queens' Peninsula Hospital Center set to close ; New York Downtown Hospital putting patients on stretchers in the hallway to accommodate unmanageable influx of emergency patients.
"Sources say the Far Rockaway, Queens, hospital will shutter after owing millions to vendors and falling behind on its union benefits funds payments; the closure would cost the area about 1,000 jobs," reported Crain's.
The Queens Crap blog published a post today, indicating that Peninsula Hospital Center had filed a 90-day closure plan, a requirement under the law that was violated when St. Vincent's Hospital closed on April 30, 2010.
Is our social safety net not too big to fail ?
Does nobody in City Council have any concern about the financial collapse of so many hospitals across all five New York City boroughs ?
Does Mayor Michael Bloomberg not care, either ?
Meanwhile, following the illegal closing of St. Vincent's Hospital last year, there reamins only one hospital south of 16th Street in Manhattan, New York Downtown Hospital, which The New York Post has reported as being ''overwhelmed,'' and is leading to an ''emergency-care crisis,'' the newspaper reports.
First Day of Marriage Equality in New York - Connecting Rainbows Video
The Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-LGBT hate group, organised a hate rally outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Manhattan office on Sunday, to protest the first day that same-sex couples can legally marry each other in New York state. Connecting Rainbows organised a counter-protest. Here is video of what it was like outside of the Manhattan marriage bureau -- and then later of the counter-protest.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer Blasts Mayor's Race Opponent Chris Quinn
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer took an apparent swipe at his mayor's race opponent, calling for an end to pork spending by local lawmakers.
JULY 20, 2011 4:09 PM
Our Reuven Blau reports:
"We have a system where some districts get a lot more than others and politics is the only reason," Stringer told reporters yesterday.
Quinn is an early frontrunner in the mayoral election with the largest war chest of more than $4 million. Yet one of her major challenges in her expected run is the so-called slush fund scandal that erupted in 2007.
-- Excerpted from the Daily Politics blog by Celeste Katz on The New York Daily News.
2011 07 Xx Christine Quinn Slush Fund Member Items Report
2 Females Fighting in the L Train in NYC. Iphone HD Video, July 19, 2011
2 Females Fighting in the L Train in NYC all because of a seat, Really a seat? Wigs out and one of the lady's baby stroller went rolling out of the train. Other people taking care of her baby while she fights WTF?
Monday, July 18th 2011, 4:00 AM
Bryan Smith for News
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's director of community outreach dropped a few F-bombs at a local fundraiser last week.
Christine Quinn needs to rein in her director of community outreach Tony Simone.
The City Council speaker's office has issued an apology after Simone reached out to protesters outside a Quinn fund-raiser last Monday by lobbing a few F-bombs their way.
Documentary maker Donny Moss tells us that the protest outside the Dream Downtown hotel, which drew close to 30 people, was one of several that he and others will organize "between now and the mayoral election," to urge voters to "look beyond" Quinn's "identity" as a gay politician "to her actual record."
Moss addresses the issue in a 10-minute YouTube film called "Christine Quinn: Behind The Smile," in which he outlines a number of instances where, he contends, Quinn has "betrayed the gay community behind the scenes since becoming speaker."
Perhaps that's why Simone didn't have anything good to say when he encountered the protest at the Dream Downtown on Monday night where Quinn was having an $11-a-head fund-raiser for her 2013 mayoral campaign. (Quinn avoided her critics by using a back entrance to the hotel.)
According to Moss and another witness, Simone — who's a former Goldman Sachs portfolio analyst— approached the demonstrators, who were stationed on 16th St. between Eighth and Ninth Aves. outside of the hotel's entrance.
There, Simone asked one protester if Moss was present. Told that the filmmaker was indeed among the group, Simone responded: "Tell him to go f--- himself."
Moss says Simone then spotted longtime gay rights activist Allen Roskoff, and shouted "F--- you" at him before heading inside to the fund-raiser.
Roskoff, who's also been critical of Quinn, is president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and co-author of the nation's first gay rights bill.
When we ran this story by Quinn's office, her communications director Jamie McShane told us Simone had gone to the fund-raiser "on his own time," where he was "repeatedly verbally abused by protesters. Tony lost his cool and should not have. He apologizes for his actions."
"That's a patent lie," replied Moss, who insisted "no one even recognized" Simone until he hurled his epithets.
"I didn't even say a word to him after he said I should go f--- myself," said Moss. He added that he and Roskoff were "mesmerized" by the city employee's behavior and said nothing.
Moss said he also didn't react when, he claimed, Simone approached him at another protest in summer 2009 and "shouted in my face, 'Loser!'
"I'm more interested in exposing Quinn's record than engaging with people who are invested in her success," he said.
Whistle-Blower in Phone-Hacking Case Reportedly Found Dead
Sean Hoare, a former News of the World journalist who claimed that Andy Coulson, the tabloid’s former editor, knew about and encouraged phone hacking, was found dead on Monday, The Guardian reports.
Meanwhile, Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974) was an American labor union activist and chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. She died under mysterious circumstances after investigating claims of irregularities and wrongdoing at the Kerr-McGee plant.
Monday, July 18th 2011, 4:00 AM
Bryan Smith for News
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's director of community outreach dropped a few F-bombs at a local fundraiser last week.
Christine Quinn needs to rein in her director of community outreach Tony Simone.
The City Council speaker's office has issued an apology after Simone reached out to protesters outside a Quinn fund-raiser last Monday by lobbing a few F-bombs their way.
Documentary maker Donny Moss tells us that the protest outside the Dream Downtown hotel, which drew close to 30 people, was one of several that he and others will organize "between now and the mayoral election," to urge voters to "look beyond" Quinn's "identity" as a gay politician "to her actual record."
Moss addresses the issue in a 10-minute YouTube film called "Christine Quinn: Behind The Smile," in which he outlines a number of instances where, he contends, Quinn has "betrayed the gay community behind the scenes since becoming speaker."
Perhaps that's why Simone didn't have anything good to say when he encountered the protest at the Dream Downtown on Monday night where Quinn was having an $11-a-head fund-raiser for her 2013 mayoral campaign. (Quinn avoided her critics by using a back entrance to the hotel.)
According to Moss and another witness, Simone — who's a former Goldman Sachs portfolio analyst— approached the demonstrators, who were stationed on 16th St. between Eighth and Ninth Aves. outside of the hotel's entrance.
There, Simone asked one protester if Moss was present. Told that the filmmaker was indeed among the group, Simone responded: "Tell him to go f--- himself."
Moss says Simone then spotted longtime gay rights activist Allen Roskoff, and shouted "F--- you" at him before heading inside to the fund-raiser.
Roskoff, who's also been critical of Quinn, is president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and co-author of the nation's first gay rights bill.
When we ran this story by Quinn's office, her communications director Jamie McShane told us Simone had gone to the fund-raiser "on his own time," where he was "repeatedly verbally abused by protesters. Tony lost his cool and should not have. He apologizes for his actions."
"That's a patent lie," replied Moss, who insisted "no one even recognized" Simone until he hurled his epithets.
"I didn't even say a word to him after he said I should go f--- myself," said Moss. He added that he and Roskoff were "mesmerized" by the city employee's behavior and said nothing.
Moss said he also didn't react when, he claimed, Simone approached him at another protest in summer 2009 and "shouted in my face, 'Loser!'
"I'm more interested in exposing Quinn's record than engaging with people who are invested in her success," he said.
''Excuse Me, Do You Know What Schools I've Been To and How Well-Educated I Am ?''
Update on Hermon Raju, the well-educated screamer commuter on Metro-North : ''We give a lot of credit to the conductor, who keeps her cool during the whole interaction, and doesn't raise her voice once. Best of all, according to the video's uploader there was an announcement on the train a minute later, asking all passengers to please not use profanity on the train, 'especially those people who went to Harvard or Yale or are from Westport.' Pshaw, as if the Crimson elite would deign to follow such commands.''
SAIC RICO Bloomberg Protest - Suzannah B. Troy Speech
Artist, blogger, and political commentator Suzannah B. Troy gave a speech today outside the New York City offices of SAIC to demand a RICO refund of triple damages against SAIC for their role in the organised crime that took place to rob taxpayers of over almost $1 billion in CityTime project costs.
Union representatives from Local 375 and DC 37, community activists, New York City taxpayers, and others gathered at 1250 Broadway in a demonstration against the technology company known as SAIC.
For years, newspaper and television reporters, bloggers, and whistle blowers have been reporting details of a massive taxpayer fraud perpetrated by New York City officials, by employees of SAIC and of another company known as Technodyne, and possibly by lobbyists in connection with the scandalous CityTime project.
The CityTime project began with an original budget of approximately $60 million, but has since ballooned to over $700 million.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has begun an investigation, but nobody yet knows how high this scandal, and other technology consultancy contract scandals, may go up the Bloomberg administration.
Stay tuned.
