Bloomberg Experiences A Major Post-Election Defeat
This will not make the Mayor of Money happy:A plan to dramatically re-zone East Midtown has fizzled, members of the City Council announced this evening. The plan–one of departing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s most ambitious legacy projects–was aimed at transforming 73 blocks around the Empire State Building to allow the kind of modern, soaring skyscrapers that currently dot Lower Manhattan. But today,
Better When Bush Was President
"Frankly, the public education system was better off when George W. Bush was president because Democrats fought him." ~ Diane Ravitch— TCBGP (@TCBGP) November 12, 2013Indeed.They would have fought Bush on NSA spying and the drone bomb slaughter Obama has ordered in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere too.Alas, because a Democrat has ordered these things, many partisan Dems fall al
Cuomo Let Gas Company Write Safety Regulations
Sheriff Andy, the lobbyist for students, turns out to also be the lobbyist for the gas companies:ALBANY—A company that helped the Cuomo administration formulate new safety regulations for the liquefied natural gas industry stands to profit from the changes it recommended.Expansion Energy, which develops mobile storage facilities for liquefied natural gas, was hired by the state to study the possib
Cuomo Spends $21 Million To Use Headhunter Service For Patronage Positions
The fiscal genius in Albany showing more fiscal genius: ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo’s drive to hire the “best and brightest” for state government could end up costing taxpayers $20.6 million, the Daily News has learned. That’s the amount the Cuomo administration has quietly agreed to pay a Rochester-area company for “talent acquisition services” over the next five years. Cuomo administration officials def
Common Core Problems Just Like Obamacare Problems
From Politico:Democrats have a general idea of what it would take to put the Obamacare rollout back on track. Fix the damn website, they say, and most of the other problems will take care of themselves.Common Core proponents have a general idea of what a successful implementation of Common Core and the ancillary tests, curricula, and data collection will look like, but so far implementation has be
Today's Protest Against Tisch And King At Ward Melville High School
Mark Naison writes:Woke up this morning in a GREAT MOOD, ready to join THOUSANDS of Long Island parents, teachers and students at 5:45 protesting another closed forum sponsored by NY Ed Commissioner John King at Ward Melville HS in East Setauket. Since Commissioner King seems constitutionally incapable of actually listening to parents, teachers and principals, I doubt if this demonstration will ha
Contract Negotiations - Teachers Already Gave At The Office
Times article out on how union contract negotiations may go under de Blasio.All I know is, not only did teachers not get the 8% raises all the other unions got under the last pattern, we gave up concessions via the APPR teacher evaluation law that include a loss of tenure, yearly ratings tied to test scores, and a lot more work under the Danielson rubric.I blame my union leadership as much for tha
11-11-13 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Maybe Somebody Should Look Into Bloomberg's Bribe Money?Buzzfeed:One of Mike Bloomberg’s signal accomplishments in New York City was reversing the flow of corruption. In the old days, and in every other city in the world most days, favor-seekers bribe politicians — with cash in envelopes, with legal contributions, or with political support. In Mike Bloomerg’s New York, the m