Mayoral Forum

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

And the Next Speaker Is

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 3- The headline could refer to the city council with 3 or 4 different council members vying to be the next speaker of the City Council, including what appears to be the Bronx's own Councilman Jimmy Vacca. However the headline refers to the New York State Assembly. 

With current Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver carrying many loads on his back will the Vito Lopez debacle be the straw that broke Silver's back? There are seven names being circulated as Silver's replacement. The top three include Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie, Manhattan Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Keith Wright, and even Brooklyn Assemblyman and Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol. There are other names being floated to replace Silver, but they would be real long shots to be chosen. My bet would be on Keith Wright as the next Speaker of the State Assembly. If that does not happen look for Assemblyman Wright become the next Congressman from the 15th District.

The race for mayor is now getting really trashy. That is trash talk, as candidates Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson are slinging the trash in the East 92nd Street waste transfer station. This was voted on by the city council, and signed by the mayor to have a waste transfer station at the current East 92nd Street Sanitation Department site. After much community outrage it appears that mayoral candidate Bill Thompson is now siding with the community saying that he is against the project. Candidate Christine Quinn is sticking to her guns by saying that each borough has to have its own waste transfer station, and that the process went through the proper procedures saying that it would not be right to move it now. One might have to agree with Quinn on this, as even Mayor Bloomberg who lives only a few blocks away agrees with her. Thompson is now angry for being called a racist by Quinn, and Quinn says that is what someone would be if they moved it to a minority area from East 92nd Street.

The Ben Franklin Democratic Club of the 81st A.D. may have had a mayoral forum, but 80th A.D. Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj had one Sunday afternoon. Assemblyman Gjonaj opened the forum by saying that people should use their rights and vote. He then turned it over to the forum host Mr. Gary Axelbank and his assembled panel. I promised the good assemblyman that I would be nice to him, but the panel that was assembled had nothing really to do with the 80th A.D., and it showed in some of the questions. Democrats Christine Quinn, Bill Deblasio, and Bill Thompson were the first three candidates to speak, and each one was given a question on the city subsidiary that Fresh Direct was given. Of the three Bill Thompson had the best line by saying that if Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is supporting it “So am I”.

Quinn was given a question of holding back the Living Wage Bill, that was answered by saying that she wanted everyone to have a voice. She added that nobody wants to pass a bill that will cost jobs, and that people on both sides of the issue congratulated her when the Living Wage Bill was passed. To a question on better access to the Hutch Metro Center and other areas Quinn said that the council Transportation Chair Jimmy Vacca will have to come up with the answer. About corrupt elected officials Quinn said that the process has been changed to a system that still allows good local needy organizations to continue to receive city funding, while rooting out the corruption.

Bill Deblasio gave the same opening speech as he has before about a tale of two cities, and how he wants to build 200,000 new units of affordable housing. To a question of how he would of handled the Croton Water Filtration Plant with the community opposition, cost overruns, and scandals Deblasio said that unlike Mayor Bloomberg who has to have it done his way or no way he would have community input. As for Stop N Frisk DeBlasio said that police need to police better, he would have a different police commissioner, and an Inspector General. To a question on small business taking it on the chops from the city, DeBlasio said that he had come out with a report that stated small businesses in the outer boroughs are not treated as fair as those in Manhattan.

Bill Thompson was next and spoke about the current education crisis in the public schools system. After Thompson answered the Fresh Direct question people started to leave with one woman saying that she had enough of the so called forum. Thompson said when asked that the current site at East 92nd Street for the Manhattan waste transfer station was the wrong site, and added that he did not like being called a racist by candidate Quinn.

Next up was former Bronx Borough President Adolfo carrion Jr. as more people were leaving. Carrion was asked about the Croton Water Filtration Plant. The answer by Carrion was plain and simple as he said it had to be built somewhere. He said that he wants to build “World Class Neighborhood Schools”. When I asked Carrion later why he did not send his children to the local neighborhood school, but miles away to another school his answer was that there was no “World Class School” in his neighborhood.

John Liu was next and said that he as City Comptroller would not have any problem moving across the street to City Hall after all the work he has done as Comptroller. On the question of corruption, and the two campaign workers that were convicted Liu said that the government had gone after him for four years. Liu added that there was an undercover agent for that time and the agent lied about what was done. Liu said that he, unlike Mayor Bloomberg, has to raise funds, but he was not taking any money from people who do business with the city or from Wall Street. Liu said that he believes in community benefits agreements, but they must be able to be enforceable unlike many that have not been. To a question on senior center cuts of $26 million Liu said that the books need to be open to see in the 70 billion dollar budget just where the 26 million dollars can be found.

As I said before there were no questions by the panel about the real problems of the 80th A.D. , and that was the reason many people left early. Minor candidates came next and spoke as the crowd thinned out even more as I left having had enough of the panel. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronxn.blogspot.com to read more and see photos of this event.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.