What Bloomberg's Plans May Mean for the Arts

According to Norma Munn, chairperson of the New York City Arts Coalition, the bad news that Mayor Bloomberg unveiled yesterday vis a vis the city budget will certainly mean some pain for the arts, but perhaps, she says, not as much pain as we might have thought.

As per Norma:

Here is the preliminary budget from the Mayor for the upcoming budget year starting July 1, 2009 for the Department of Cultural Affairs. Please keep in mind that this is stage one; the Council will hold hearings starting in a couple of weeks. After their response, the Mayor will propose the Executive Budget in late April, and another round of hearings will take place, along with ongoing negotiations between the Council and the Mayor before a final budget passed in late June.

EXPENSE BUDGET
FY09: $153,050,000
FY10: $132,453,000 (proposed)

That is a decrease of over $20 million. There are no details provided within these larger numbers as to how this breaks down between CIGs and Program groups.

CAPITAL BUDGET
FY09: $823 million
FY10: $140 million (proposed)

Comparisons of current and proposed on Capital are not a good way to realistically evaluate what the City is doing. More important is a comparison with what is spent versus what is planned. From 2005 through 2008, the actual capital money spent ranged from a low of $102 million to a high of $212 million, so a projection of $140 million, while low, is not as drastic as the above numbers would seem to indicate.

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Mayor Bloomberg Loves Freelancers, Hates the Marx Brothers?

This post mixes two concerns. First, yesterday I received an email from the Freelancers Union:

Dear Members,

Today in his State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg echoed our call to exempt independent workers from the Unincorporated Business Tax (UBT)—an unfair double tax that requires 17,000 NYC freelancers to pay twice as much as traditional employees.

And while the announcement is an important first step towards a fairer tax system for freelancers, we’ve still got our work cut out for us.

Even though we’ve got the support of the Mayor, the City Council Speaker, and the NYC Comptroller, the fate of the freelancer tax cut will be determined by the state legislature.

That means that if we truly want relief where it counts—in our wallets—we need to
stick together and convince the politicians in Albany.

We believe: more people, more pull. Please take a minute to thank Mayor Bloomberg for taking a stand for freelancers, and ask him to be our advocate by taking the fight to Albany.

As a full-time (for now) freelancer (and I'll still freelance, I guess, once I have another position), I naturally support the Mayor's proposal and I certainly endorse the idea of everyone jumping on this bandwagon and lobbying the state legislature for its support. It's especially crucial at a moment in time when every bit of revenue, of course, is precious.

Second -- and in the meantime -- my friend Susan Hefti is continuing to rattle cages where Marx Brothers Place is concerned. As this blog's followers know, Susan leads the 93rd Street Beautification Association and has been pressuring the Mayor and his associates to lend their support simply to the idea of honoring the block where the Marx Brothers grew up. But so far, her efforts have been falling on deaf ears. So I ask you: Does the Mayor love freelancers but hate monumental comedy?

Anyway, Susan put out an email tonight containing a form letter than can be sent to the chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commisison, Robert B. Tierney. (I've often said my piece about him -- click here.) The letter asks Tierney to consider the Beautification Association's request to extend the Carnegie Hill Historic District one block -- just one block -- so that it will encompass Marx Brothers Place. I think everyone should copy this letter and email it to the address as requested. Developers are salivating -- even in this nonsense economy -- for the opportunity to demolish the historic sites on this block, and on the LPC, and maybe Mayor Bloomberg's voice and conscience, can stop it. Or else our hands and fists will. Here's the letter. Please send it.

Please cut, paste and send to:
comments@lpc.nyc.gov
(with cc to 93rdst.beautification@gmail.com).

Dear Chairman Tierney,

We respectfully request that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) calendar the 93rd Street Beautification Association's Request for Evaluation (RFE), asking the city to extend the Carnegie Hill Historic District one block east so as to include historic Marx Brothers Place, for a public hearing.

The beloved childhood block of the Marx Brothers not only includes their extant childhood home, but also includes brownstones that are older than any of the brownstones already in the Carnegie Hill Historic District (a row of townhouses vital to any credible understanding of the development history of Carnegie Hill). The unique stepped-down roofscape that runs on both the north and south sides of the block evokes the city's Native American history, giving meaning to its original name, Manatus, which translated from the Lenape means “island of hills.” It's a fact that is still evident on East 93rd Street, one of the steepest hills left in all of Manhattan, with two houses built and owned by the famous Loew brothers and, inter alia, a house owned by the well-known New Yorker, William Orth.

It is imperative that the city act with all due speed to protect this incomparable collection of historic homes and gardens so rich in our nation's cultural and architectural history.

Thank you for your kind attention to this request.

Respectfully submitted,

(please add your name and address)

So, Mr. Mayor? Bloomie? Mr. B-Bear? You already subverted democracy by ramming through that term-limits overturning. How about you compensate not only by supporting freelancers (thank you), but by honoring the Marx Brothers? Not that I'd harp on that, of course.

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Are Michael Bloomberg and "Cynical" Synonyms?

It will come as no surprise that I have elected to be very tough on New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. I didn't vote for him the first time around because, well, I just can't bring myself to vote for Republicans, especially when they're RINOs -- Republicans in Name Only -- because such people suggest to me that they haven't the guts to align himself with a party closer to one's own ideals. Indeed, I thought it was smart of Bloomberg to go the Independent route, because while many ideals of the Democratic party are ideologically close to Bloomberg's, the mayor has proven himself to be smart enough, and perhaps now and then wily enough, to borrow from any philosophy, any party, that works for the city of New York.

The second time around I voted for Elmer Fudd. No, I'm not kidding. I did it as a write-in vote and I guess no one ever requests a write-in vote in Astoria because my request simply terrified both the Republican and Democratic election representatives at my voting place, and they had to look up how to operate the paper ballot in the machine because they hadn't a clue how to do it. I do understand the argument that I tossed my vote away, but I still couldn't bring myself to vote for Bloomberg -- I oppose his reckless toadying to real estate developers and antipathy toward historic preservation -- but I couldn't vote for Freddy Ferrer because, to be blunt, he was just an awful candidate with no chance of winning.

But what really made me angry was when Bloomberg rammed through the City Council the alteration to the term-limits laws, thus circumventing the will of the people. I've blogged about this before, but the real, or greater, reason for this post is this story in the New York Daily News and how it crystallizes for me how offensively cynical the mayor is being.

The very idea that someone advised Bloomberg that he ought to pick up some shiny shovel so as to fix a pothole -- who believes in this as a publicity stunt? Indeed, who thinks this is anything but a publicity stunt designed to drive up his the mayor's positives? I understand it may work, but my point is that the citizens of New York City are going to have to make a choice: buy into this crass and cynical pandering to local interests or conclude, regardless of how they eventually vote, that Bloomberg is one of the most shamelessly cynical politicians ever in our government. It may win him the election this year, but let's at least call it what it is.

Just read this silliness from the Daily News story:

Back in 2008, when Mayor Bloomberg looked like a man closing out his last term in office, he spent a lot of time talking about energy policy, visiting Europe, and consulting with business leaders about the economy.

So far in 2009, when he wants voters to give him another term in office, he's paid a courtesy call on a nation important to New Yorkers - and filled a Brooklyn pothole.

"That's the mayor's job, filling potholes and showing the flag and trying to support those that help us keep a safer world," the mayor said Monday, after he grabbed a shiny new shovel from a Department of Transportation crew to sprinkle asphalt on a street in Sheepshead Bay.

Er, isn't it also the mayor's job to uphold democracy? Isn't that, in fact, the job of all elected officials on a certain level? I guess when you're Mayor Michael Bloomberg, you can pick and choose your battles -- I mean, your job description.

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New York City Mayor McScrooge?

As you all know, I've spent much of this year attempting to help Susan Hefti of the 93rd Street Beautification Association to bring two projects to fruition: having her block renamed Marx Brothers Place (honoring where the extraordinary comedians grew up -- and where the building, despite developers wanting to fool with it, still stands), and having her stretch of the Carnegie Hill Historic District extended by precisely this block in order to equally honor the comics (she lives in the building).

Susan, who is even more of a tenacious if tender pitbull than I am, has been fighting the good fight all year and run up against what seems like good and bad -- or shall we say at this time of year, naughty and nice -- politicians. Were this Chicago, for heaven's sake, maybe we could just cough up some money to the Governor of Illinois, who I understand now goes by "Do not Blago, do not collect $250,000." But, indeed, we're not in Chicago, we're in New York City, where the Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has shown the most remarkable aptitude to use his leverage, even if he doesn't have power, to achieve ends that he deems important. Like, for example, shoving the legally enacted term limits aside and ramrodding it through the City Council like a virgin at a VHI1 video gangbang.

But when Hefti and the rest of her 93rd Street crew look for Bloomberg to spread a little holiday cheer their way -- to simply endorse the idea of a Marx Brothers Place -- this famously anti-preservationist billionaire mayor simply raises his prominent nose and extends a metaphorical middle finger.

The irony is that yesterday, two prominent politicians endorsed Susan's ideas.

The first was Scott Stringer, borough president of Manhattan, who no doubt would like to have the mayor's job one day and might even care to ask Mayor Bloomberg to take all his billions and shove them where the Bloomberg terminals don't shine. Here's Susan email blast on the subject:

We have just received a copy of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's wonderful letter requesting that the Chairman of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission CALENDAR our RFE which asks that the city extend the CHHD one block east to include historic Marx Brothers Place!

Wow ! What a great holiday gift for our block to receive the full support of Borough President Scott Stringer ! This really means a lot to us all !

As you know, our block has been under siege for quite some time now, and most residents feel as though our concerns have fallen on deaf ears. As support for this preservation campaign continues to grow, it helps us feel that, at least, some folks are listening....

Following that was a second email blast from Susan because State Senator Jose Serrano, whose district includes this area, has endorsed the idea of extending the Carnegie Hill Historic District as well, in a letter to Robert B. Tierney, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Let's remember that Tierney is a man, appointed by Bloomberg, who, as the Gotham Gazette noted in its summary of a recent series of exposes by Robin Pogrebin of the Times (quoting The Clyde Fitch Report), may or may not be suitable for his position. (In my coverage, indeed, I suggested he may be corrupt.) Still, how nice to get Serrano on board:

December 23, 2008

Hon. Robert B. Tierney, Chair
Landmarks Preservation Commission
Municipal Building
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10007

I respectfully ask the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to reconsider a
Request for Evaluation (RFE) submitted by the 93rd Street Beautification Association on September 5, 2008.

This RFE seeks to extend the Carnegie Hill Historic District one block east to include a collection of houses and gardens known as Marx Brothers Place, located on East 93rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.

At a time of great development in our city, I believe that preservation is a key to protecting our historical, cultural, and architectural treasures. This is not to mention the environmental benefits that come with less demolition and construction.

Marx Brothers Place, which falls within the confines of my State Senate District, is worthy of our attention, and worth of the protective umbrella of city government. I urge you to revisit the proposal, and calendar the item as soon as possible.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.

But here's the reason I'm writing this. Susan Hefti has had some less than nice correspondence of late with representatives of Mayor Bloomberg's office, and they have, I think, unduly, needlessly and shamelessly chastised her for daring to enlist the mayor's support of any of the 93rd Street Beautification Association's goals. That's just disgusting. The tone of the woman who wrote to Susan was just awful, unprofessional. The correspondence, which I am not at liberty to quote but may refer to, argues that the mayor has no jurisdiction in this matter and to leave him alone. As the Gotham Gazette wrote, "This administration is so excited about the new that it overlooks its obligation to protect the old."

But why protect Bloomberg?

Anyway, here is a final email blast on this that Susan sent out. I urge you all to follow through. It's amazing that when it serves the mayor's interest to subvert democracy in the crassest way, in a bitter betrayal of the public trust that makes him not a much better man than the double-dealing Blago, he'll do it. But when it comes to something so clearly, unquestionably toward the public good, Mayor McScrooge says "Bah, humbug" and hides in his East 79th Street mansion. And to think that Bloomberg's elderly mother is alive to see what a monster her son has become.

Please consider lending your support.

With 8 days of Chanukah and 12 days of Christmas, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has oceans of time to grant our holiday wish for Marx Brothers Place!

Why, it didn't even take him that long to get NYC's term limits law changed !!!

Please help us inspire the Mayor to use his considerable influence over the City Council - to honor the legacy of the world's greatest comic geniuses & NYC's cultural history by clicking on this link and cutting & pasting & sending a message to: ljackson@cityhall.nyc.gov (with a copy to: garodnickoffice@gmail.com and 93rdst.beautification@gmail.com)

Please make sure the Subject Line of your email reads: Marx Brothers Place!

Or just call the Mayor @ 212.788.2958 or 212.788.3245 and ask him to grant this simple holiday wish for Marx Brothers Place!

And while we're at it, please don't forget to click on this link so that YOU can sign the petition to co-name the block Marx Brothers Place!

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Will Mayor Bloomberg Play the Scrooge? Or Make Marx Brothers Place a Reality?

Susan Hefti of the 93rd Street Beautification Association, in an e-blast to her growing, increasingly vocal constituency, has a message for Mayor Bloomberg. The question is whether, by spending not one dollar, he will listen. Mr. Mayor, hello? Is there a good reason NOT to proclaim Marx Brothers Place? Here, read the email from Susan -- and you decide.

NYC's Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, has long been known for his generous largess—saving, for example, a struggling ballet school uptown, much to the delight and surprise of the very grateful recipient of his unexpected gift. Acts of kindness and good will, like this one, have loaned a certain charm to the Mayor's reputation over the years.

But, in the wake of the Mayor's recent and notorious end run around two voter referenda on term limits, his reputation has, according to polls on the subject, taken a real beating.

So as acts of generosity and kindness always seem to take on a special glow during the holidays, offering as they do hope for the human spirit, we have a very simple suggestion of a Mayoral gesture that might help to smooth out some of the dings left behind by the bitterly contested Council vote, and this gesture won't cost the Mayor a dime!

One of the many perks of being Mayor of this great city is that the office carries with it the authority to ceremonially co-name streets throughout the five boroughs. Mayor Koch made good use of this official gesture when he co-named a block on 91st Street James Cagney Place in honor of the late great actor whose childhood home once stood there, but which was sadly demolished before Koch had a chance to bestow the honor.

As many of you know, we have been campaigning to have East 93rd Street, between Lexington & Third Avenues, the site of the beloved childhood home of the Marx Brothers, to be eponymously co-named Marx Brothers Place in honor of NYC's greatest gift to the world stage of comedy. It was actually the celebrated preservationist, Tony C. Wood, who first came up with the name Marx Brothers Place, and what a great idea it was!

So we hope that Mayor Bloomberg is feeling magnanimous this holiday season, and will grant this glorious, but cost-effective, holiday wish. A Mayoral gesture, as fine and grand as this, would be especially appreciated by neighborhood businesses who, during this economic downturn, will be the grateful beneficiaries of the foot traffic associated with becoming a true destination, especially one invested with so much good cheer.

For the Mayor's part, it would require no more than waving his magic wand to make the ceremonial name "official". Why the Mayor wouldn't even have to make the long, hard trek up our famously steep hill to deliver this particular holiday gift. He could simply announce, from the comfort of his warm office, that the deed has been done.

No environmentally unfriendly gift wrap is needed; no fancy ribbon; no squeezing down a chimney to place the ceremonial name under a tree. Simply say it is so, and it becomes Marx Brothers Place. It's just that easy.

Given the amount of good will this simple gesture would generate, and how little it would cost, its a real bargain for the city, the block and the Mayor. Everybody wins!

And talk about a bang for your buck! In one fell swoop, the Mayor would be supporting the neighborhood; local businesses; local real estate; tourism; NYC's much vaunted history; our city's cultural heritage & public identity and the unrivaled legacy of the universally recognized grandfathers of American comedy.

While some may still be harboring visions of sugarplums, we think the Mayor co-naming East 93rd Street for the greatest comic geniuses the world has ever known would simply be the sweetest holiday treat of all!

So perhaps you could all take just a moment out of your busy days to call the mayor's office at 212.788.2958 or 212.788.3245 or simply send him a cut & paste email at: ljackson@cityhall.nyc.gov (with a copy to 93rdst.beautification@gmail.com) and drop a really big hint about a very smart gift the Mayor could bestow upon historic East 93rd Street this holiday season, a gift New Yorkers would surely embrace and enjoy for generations to come.

Thanks for your continued interest in historic Marx Brothers Place!

For more information about the 93rd Street Beautification Association, please contact us at 93rdst.beautification@gmail.com or 212.969.8138 or visit our blogs at: Save Marx Brothers Place or The Marx Brothers Place Report or view our MySpace profile.

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The New York City Council Votes for Change -- the Wrong Kind of Change

As per the New York Times, the City Council has voted 29 to 22 to extend term limits, thus allowing Mayor Bloomberg -- and all the councilmembers -- to run again.

Democracy in New York City died today.

Here's a picture of that enemy of democracy, City Council President Christine Quinn. Shame on her.

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Will the New York City Council Circumvent the Will of the People?

Before I post the information below -- sent to me as an email this afternoon -- I'd like to write a little bit about term limits.

To me, the idea of term limits was always redolent of the Passive-Aggressive School of Politics -- the Coddling School, too. I happen to believe, for one thing, strongly in the idea of institutional knowledge, that in any endeavor one mustn't throw the baby out with the bathwater, and that the people, the ordinary citizenry, the Joe the Plummers, are the ones who must exert power in this nation, be it at the presidential, gubernatorial, mayoral or dog catcher levels. Therefore, the movement toward term limits that swept the country more than a decade ago always struck me as profoundly anti-American and certainly anti-democratic. It bespoke of a nation in a state of perpetual fury against entrenched incumbents and interests that came to be convinced that it isn't about throwing the bums out by actually vetting candidates and voting but instead about a system of valuing institutional change rather than institutional memory. It's lazy and it's dumb and it's more harmful to the government, I believe, than it is helpful.

That New York City was suckered -- twice! -- into voting for term limits always made me angry, especially since it was bankrolled by Ron Lauder. But still, it was voted on and the veracity of the vote was never in question.

Now Mayor Bloomberg would like another term and, Gee, I can't imagine that the City Council wouldn't want more time in office if they could get it. And so the City Council is set to vote very soon on overturning the will of the people -- eliminating term limits so that Bloomberg can run for one more term and so can the Council members. I keep reading about how this is set up to be a one-time thing, necessitated by the economic, social and foreign-policy crises we're in, but do you buy that? I don't. Now we're in the Sophistry School of Politics.

Fortunately, efforts are underway to make it clear to the New York City Council that it must not act like the Soviet Politburo. I received today, reprinted below, a letter that asks people to visit a website and sign a petition designed to honor democracy. I didn't like the outcome of those term limit votes, as I say. But the citizenry voted for it and if it is going to be eliminate or modified, it is only appropriate that the citizenry have the opportunity to do so. Why is the mayor so afraid of anything otherwise?

Please read below.

Twice, New Yorkers have voted overwhelmingly for terms limits in New York City.

Now, Mayor Bloomberg and some City Council members are plotting to extend term limits without the voters' permission -- instead of dealing with the real issues.

Your City Council member Peter Vallone hasn't said if he thinks term limits should be up to voters or the politicians. We need the Council to serve us, not themselves.

Go to www.itsourdecision.org today. Sign the petition, and send a message to Councilmember Vallone: let the Voters decide!

No matter how you feel about term limits, one thing is clear: the voters have spoken, and the politicians need to listen.

This isn't about whether Mayor Bloomberg or Councilmember Vallone have been effective leaders or whether they deserve another term.

This is about respecting the rules, and respecting the will of the people. If voters want to overturn term limits, that's our decision, not theirs.

That's why we've teamed up with the Working Families Party to make sure New Yorkers have their say.

Go to www.itsourdecision.org. We need 26 members of the Council to stand up for democracy, and if Councilmember Vallone stands up for the people we can get it done. On our website you can see where every City Council member stands and get the latest updates from our campaign to make sure the people's vote is respected.

Log on to www.itsourdecision.org. It may be the last vote the Mayor and the City Council let you get.

Thanks,

Congressman Anthony Weiner
Michael Schenkler, Publisher, Queens Tribune

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