wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Colby Hamilton/WNYC

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has sent an open letter to Mayor Bloomberg regarding his handling of former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith's resignation, the public advocate's office announced earlier.

The full letter is after the jump. De Blasio is the latest in a series of public officials--and assumed 2013 mayoral contenders--to call on the mayor to apologize and explain his actions surrounding Goldsmith's departure. He is the first to ask for a public apology.

Courtsey of the borough president's Flickr account.

The fallout has started surrounding today's revelation that a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg resigned after being arrested for domestic violence. And at the front of his media surf board is Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

Stringer sent out a statement late this morning saying he was "deeply troubled by the news" that former Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith had spent two nights in a Washington, DC jail after being arrested after a domestic dispute with his wife. Goldsmith resigned abruptly on August 4. The New York Post reported today that on July 30, Goldsmith had been arrested in Washington, DC, after his wife called the police. The incident, the Post said, was what led to Goldsmith's resignation--not his poor handling of the monster snow storm back in January, as had been the suspicion.

Speaking to the press earlier, Borough President Stringer called on the mayor to give an account of what happened, what the decision making process behind Goldsmith's resignation was, and why the incident wasn't disclosed to the public.

"We have a right to know the circumstances relating to his resignation," Stringer said. "If the resignation was a result of this arrest, then New Yorkers have the right to know that a high-ranking deputy mayor, in charge of oversight of the NYPD, was arrested under some very difficult circumstances."

Stringer was careful not to directly criticize the mayor's handling of the incident, saying that that his office wasn't "picking a fight with the mayor."

"I dont want to characterize the circumstances surrounding the mayor's thinking until i know what it was," Stringer said. "And then we'll go from there."

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesperson with the mayor's office, released the following statement: "We have nothing to add to Mrs. Goldsmith's account of the incident, but it was clear to the Mayor and Mr. Goldsmith that he could no longer serve at City Hall, regardless of his guilt or innocence."

Former New York City Deputy Mayor for Operations Stephen Goldsmith was arrested on a domestic violence charge shortly before he resigned.

The quick departure of Stephen Goldsmith, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Deputy Mayor for Operations, after his a rocky, 14-month tenure marks a major turning point in the mayor's third term.

The city announced the launch of a website aimed at collecting ideas for improving the city and connecting New Yorkers with their communities on Thursday.

New York City Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano told a City Council panel Monday that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to cut 20 fire companies will negatively impact every single council district. He blamed both federal and state cut backs.

New York City has run up some very high bills for information technology services. The Bloomberg administration now says the answer to cost overruns is to rely more on city workers.

Next time trash is overflowing on your block or snow remains unplowed, New Yorkers can check if anyone else has called in the same complaint with the city's new 311 map.

Some information is already coming out about the city's response to the 2010 blizzard.

Among the questions City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she wants answered was why the city did not call a snow emergency.

In his opening remarks to the City Coucnil, Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith provided an answer. He said he and others feared that calling a snow emergency would put more cars on the street.

Also, in his opening remarks, Goldsmith said half of the city's sanitation trucks do not have radios, slowing down the information flow between drivers in the field and management back at headquarters.

As one political operative noted, it's a striking digital divide, considering some people in government are walking around with iPads.

Next Monday, the New York City Council will hold hearings into how the mayor's administration took nearly a week to clear city streets after a Christmas weekend snow storm.

"Did we just completely underestimate the storm and after that, when we realized how bad it is, what was the change up from the original plan" asked Jumaane Williams, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Committee. His committee, and three others, are holding hearings into the matter.

Steven Goldsmith has been New York City's Deputy Mayor for Operations for six weeks. A former Republican Mayor of Indianapolis, Goldsmith was known for both cost-cutting and rebuilding that city's downtown. In New York, he's become associated with several new initiatives, including wireless water metering, a possible fee for garbage collection, and expansion of the private commuter van industry.