Yonkers Tribune

Something’s Gotta Give By Henry J. Stern

Slushwater Percolates Along, Discrediting Member Items, Even The Legitimate Ones

NEW YORK, NY -- The series of reported incidents of misconduct in the appropriation and expenditures of public funds for City Council member items continues apace. Government agencies and newspaper reporters are scrutinizing official files to determine the legitimacy of Council grants.

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Fictional City Budget Entries Embarrass Speaker Quinn By Henry J. Stern

She Agrees to Full Disclosure but Members Protest Changes

April 15, 2008 -- The unfolding drama of Speaker Christine Quinn and the City Council's secret discretionary accounts, held in the names of fictitious organizations, was discussed at length today in the Gotham Gazette.  The story gives details on the transactions which  led to investigations by the United States Attorney and the Manhattan District Attorney that have been going on for some months. Who dropped the dime is not yet clear.

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Why the Fat Lady Sang By Henry J. Stern

Assembly Democrats Kill Proposal to Impose Toll on Four East River Bridges
$8 Fee for Bridge and Tunnel (B & Ts) People

April 8, 2008

To post a comment on this item, please visit our blog.

Now that congestion pricing has bitten the dust, we offer our comments on what happened in Albany and the City Council.  We will do it in sixteen bullet points, both for clarity and to avoid subjecting you to transitional prose.

We specifically invite you, our readers, to write bullet points of your own.  Not a treatise, such as the ones we wrote on March 31 and April 5, but short, pithy observations, up to 100 words, that we will share with you in a column of responses on our blog. Even though the current plan is dead, the traffic problem is very much alive, and new ways to attack it will be needed to keep congested areas from choking.

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Silver Takes the Lead By Henry J. Stern

Assembly Considers Congestion Pricing

What Will Silver Do?

Here are Three Views:Yes, No and Maybe

The pack of issues under the rubric of "congestion pricing" consists of a number of public policy questions which will affect many people's daily lives and their pockets. This important matter may, or may not, be at the point of resolution. We have looked at the proposal long and hard and listened to different points of view. Some questions are unanswered, others require forward-looking judgments, which are necessarily uncertain.

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Money, Lies, and a Roll Call By Henry J. Stern

Spitzer Budget Rises Further;
PatersonAppears to Give Way to Bruno, Silver on Spending

By Henry J. Stern
April 1, 2008

Resting from yesterday's magnum opus (posted today on Yonkers Tribune’s Website)on congestion pricing, we have three short notes on state and local matters.

Paterson Appears to Yield on Budget:

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Cross Bridge, Pay Troll By Henry J. Stern

Congestion Pricing Could Work, But Who Trusts MTA to Control Costs?

NOTE:  This article contains 3466 words, and should be in a magazine, rather than a blog.  Congestion pricing is an issue that is difficult to deal with, there are good arguments on each side.  Many political questions are decided on the basis of who is for a proposal and who is against it, and with which side are you more comfortable.  Other people make decisions on the basis of what their masters, or employers, or contributors support.  We are relatively free of those pressures, which makes the decision even more difficult.

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Paterson's Own History By Henry J. Stern

Preview of David Paterson: Amicable, Decent, Intelligent.
Will He Tame the Twin Tigers or Will They Continue to Rule?

Eliot Spitzer came into office fourteen months ago with high expectations.  His successor, David A. Paterson, who will be sworn in Monday, engenders no such aura.  A surprise choice by Governor Spitzer as his running mate back in February 2006, Paterson gambled that an office which had previously been a pit stop on the road to oblivion (except for Mario Cuomo) would be a better career path than competing to be majority leader in the event of a Democratic takeover of the state senate.

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Will Anyone Reprieve the Governor? By Henry J. Stern

Death Watch for Spitzer?
Press Predicts Resignation
Are They Plea Bargaining?

By Henry J. Stern
March 11, 2008

   

This is a more comprehensive version of an article that appeared in today's New York Sun. To read the column as published, link here.

   

In writing about the crisis caused by Governor Spitzer's dalliance with a very expensive prostitute, we find ourselves overtaken by events.

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Back to the Future

Lee Sander at Cooper Union;
New MTA CEO Shows Plan for 40 Years of Building to Get Out of Wilderness

By Henry J. Stern

NOTE:  This is a long article (2149 words) which contains many digressions from the theme of Lee Sander's speech Monday about the MTA. We discuss a number of city-related subjects, most of which are intended to provide background material to the presentation. Some are purely information, without relevance to the speech.  Feel free to skip anything which does not capture your interest. We suggest you print out the article, since it may be too long to read at work, or in one sitting at home.

As usual, we invite your comments, whether you agree or disagree with the article.  Corrections are always welcome, if you can find errors of fact.   If you want us to publish your comments on our blog, please tell us what name or initials, if any, you wish to use.  We need your birth name or park name, but will not publish either without your specific consent.  Read and enjoy. 

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Freed Madman Slays Doctor

He Butchered a Shrink;
Doctors Didn't Believe he Would be Violent.

* * *

Law Protects Psychos from Confinement;
Public Put at Risk

By Henry J. Stern
February 19, 2008

The savage murder of therapist Kathryn Faughey by the obviously demented David Tarloff raises the issue of why Tarloff, a known schizophrenic, was not confined in a state mental hospital?

Published reports indicate he has been mentally ill at least since 1991, and that he has had numerous clashes with the authorities. His most recent scrape with the law, the Sunday Post reported, came February 1, just eleven days before the murder. He had punched a security guard at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Rockaway when he was not allowed to see his mother, who did not want to see him.

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