Mayor Bloomber touts his impeccable record in crime reduction.....but his dubious CrimeStat numbers tell one story, while actual safety issues abound all over the City that have nothing to do with muggings and murders but are just as dangerous.
Under Michael Bloomberg the City of New York has had its streets repaved, reconfigured, and reviewed ad infinitum..... the reason? These are VISIBLE changes that are front and center, easy photo ops in preparation for a third term campaign. Less visible are the MOB connected building inspectors, the corrupt crane inspector, the lack of Con Edison oversight which resulted in the steam pipe explosion and electrocutions from exposed wiring. While the bike lanes and lawn chairs are positioned just so, the party inside the correction center (in view of Police Headquarters) tells a different story. Anyone in Bloomberg's administration keep an eye on their commissioners? Apparently not, perhaps this is why they are dropping like flies..... embarrassing isn't it?
The latest casualty, FDNY Commish Scopetta, steps down in 2010, perhaps fearing the wrath of the investigators who have nailed him in a coverup.
And so it goes........ under Michael Bloomberg we are NOT safer if you are walking or working in the shadow of a building crane or a scaffold. Or if you are biking, driving, or walking on or near the Grand Street bike lane. You're NOT safer these days if you live in a building that somehow got overlooked because the few building inspectors the City employs have been paid off, you're also not safe if you work for Nick Scopetta.
With regard to the Chatham Square reconfiguration plans, the Department of Transportation REFUSES to incorporate ANY pedestrian safety studies or statistical data. The DOT's supporters, most of whom are blind lemmings and transients, support this kind of "fare thee well approach" to neighborhoods, opting to support the D.O.T.'s commish in anything she does without any regard for true pedestrian safety. At the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, considered one of the city traffic hotspots and site of many accidents and fatalities -- nothing has been done to alert drivers that they are entering a heavily residential area.
With regard to the Chatham Square reconfiguration plans, the Department of Transportation REFUSES to incorporate ANY pedestrian safety studies or statistical data. The DOT's supporters, most of whom are blind lemmings and transients, support this kind of "fare thee well approach" to neighborhoods, opting to support the D.O.T.'s commish in anything she does without any regard for true pedestrian safety. At the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, considered one of the city traffic hotspots and site of many accidents and fatalities -- nothing has been done to alert drivers that they are entering a heavily residential area.
Let common sense and the long memory of NY'ers prevail, there's something rotten in New Amsterdam, and chances are it's one of Bloomberg's Commissioners..... fire them all. CCRC
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With 13 people killed in building accidents so far this year and allegations of lax construction oversight, Department of Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster stepped down June 3, 2009
Real estate and political insiders debated whether the embattled agency chief was merely a convenient scapegoat or if the announcement was too little, too late.
"The agency is obviously not what it used to be," said Rudolph Rinaldi, who served as buildings commissioner under Mayor David Dinkins, citing a change in the number of people who make the civil service a career. "If you are not tough enough, everybody in the industry is going to cut corners and take advantage of it."
Lancaster was brought in by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2002 to reform the agency, and her achievements include a major overhaul of the city building code.
But her term paralleled a period of explosive development, with dozens of Bloomberg-spearheaded rezonings creating a secondary skyline of cranes.
Lancaster herself pointed to that boom as a reason for the spike in accidents. - City building commissioner steps down April 22, 2008 By David Freedlander dfreedlander@am-ny.com
And another one bites the dust............
June 3, 2009 - NY Times
The commissioner in charge of New York City’s jails and its probation department said Tuesday night that he would announce his resignation on Wednesday.
The commissioner, Martin F. Horn, said he would not answer questions about why he was stepping down until after the announcement, because “I think that would be unfair to the mayor.” The commissioner is also leaving a month after a suspect in an attempted burglary died while being held at Rikers.
The resignation is the latest high-level departure from the Bloomberg administration, which prides itself on low turnover.
even more under Mike's "watch"
The commissioner, Martin F. Horn, said he would not answer questions about why he was stepping down until after the announcement, because “I think that would be unfair to the mayor.” The commissioner is also leaving a month after a suspect in an attempted burglary died while being held at Rikers.
The resignation is the latest high-level departure from the Bloomberg administration, which prides itself on low turnover.
even more under Mike's "watch"
Oct 17, 2009 - NY Daily News.
Three key officials at the Department of Correction resigned Friday, just months after several prisoners held religious parties and a jailed female rapper posed for a magazine photo shoot.
Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas and Frank Squillante, assistant chief of special operations, both turned in their resignations effective Oct. 31, sources said.
George Okada's resignation as warden of the Manhattan detention complex is effective the middle of next month, sources said.
"I'm sincerely happy to see [Thomas] go," said Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of theCorrection Captains' Association. "I don't believe she did a good job. We need a strong leader."
The union leader also expressed enthusiasm for Okada's departure.
"He allowed his deputy wardens to run his jails," Ferraiuolo said.
Partying on our dime.....
A top Correction Department official who is suspected of approving a bar mitzvah at a New York City jail last year has submitted his resignation and told the department he plans to retire, a spokesman for the department said Monday.
The official, Peter Curcio, has been the department’s bureau chief for facility operations, with responsibility for security in all city jails. The spokesman for the department, Stephen Morello, said Chief Curcio was promoted to that job a month before the bar mitzvah in the gymnasium at the Manhattan Detention Complex, on White Street in Lower Manhattan. Some 60 guests attended.
Mr. Morello would not comment on whether Chief Curcio was offered a choice of resigning or dismissal. Chief Curcio was one of three bureau chiefs in the department’s uniformed service but within the department was considered first among equals. He earned $162,000 a year.
Mr. Morello said Chief Curcio “failed to report the situation” about the bar mitzvah “to his supervisors at the time.”
Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas and Frank Squillante, assistant chief of special operations, both turned in their resignations effective Oct. 31, sources said.
George Okada's resignation as warden of the Manhattan detention complex is effective the middle of next month, sources said.
"I'm sincerely happy to see [Thomas] go," said Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of theCorrection Captains' Association. "I don't believe she did a good job. We need a strong leader."
The union leader also expressed enthusiasm for Okada's departure.
"He allowed his deputy wardens to run his jails," Ferraiuolo said.
Partying on our dime.....
The official, Peter Curcio, has been the department’s bureau chief for facility operations, with responsibility for security in all city jails. The spokesman for the department, Stephen Morello, said Chief Curcio was promoted to that job a month before the bar mitzvah in the gymnasium at the Manhattan Detention Complex, on White Street in Lower Manhattan. Some 60 guests attended.
Mr. Morello would not comment on whether Chief Curcio was offered a choice of resigning or dismissal. Chief Curcio was one of three bureau chiefs in the department’s uniformed service but within the department was considered first among equals. He earned $162,000 a year.
Mr. Morello said Chief Curcio “failed to report the situation” about the bar mitzvah “to his supervisors at the time.”
DOB Inspectors Arrested on Bribery Charges, Mob Connections
It’s no wonder opening a restaurant in New York is such a flustercluck. First there was news, back in April, that the State Liquor Authority was taking bribes, and now it turns out that Department of Buildings employees have been doing the same. That’s not exactly shocking (we’ve long wondered how “expediters” work their magic to get their clients Certificates of Occupancy that might otherwise take months), but the kicker is: The DOB was all mobbed up! The Times reports that a two-year-old investigation into the Luchese family’s connections with illegal gambling has led to the arrest of 27 people, six of whom are DOB employees suspected of bribery. Three of the building inspectors are Luchese family associates who also dealt in gambling, drug trafficking, extortion, and loan sharking. Good times!
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