Azi Paybarah

See them interviewed by 1010 Wins Juliet Papa, live, next week. (newyorkpressclub.org)

The New York Press Club will host the two iconic journalists next week. What would you ask them?

Mayor Bloomberg has made eliminating a $12,000 payment to uniformed firefighters and police officers a key push in his 2011 Albany legislative agenda.

He's gone as far to say that eliminating that payment could save thousands of teachers from being laid off. But when in Albany, the mayor was asked if a home rule message - a formal request from a local legislative body to state lawmakers - would be forthcoming on this.

Bloomberg said it probably wasn't needed. Bloomberg also said it's a controversial move and he would not be inclined to encourage City Council members to vote on a controversial piece of legislation if there was no guarantee that state lawmakers would also vote on it (which happened with congestion pricing).

In a Q&A with reporters after his testimony, Bloomberg reiterated a home rule message on eliminating the $12,000 payment  - something he's dubbed a "bonus" - would not be needed. The mayor said he didn't know "why" the home rule message would be needed, he told reporters. But if it was needed, the mayor said it would likely pass, once legislators (and the public) understood it was needed to save thousands of teacher jobs.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who testified about the budget here in Albany after Bloomberg, said a home rule message on the $12,000 payments probably was needed.

"It would most likely, yes, need a home rule message," said Quinn. "My sense is we would need one."

Mayor Bloomberg told state lawmakers it's up to them to push for congestion pricing, or whatever alternative they can come up with. Because he won't.

During the mayor's testimony in Albany about the governor's budget, Bloomberg was asked what he thought about congestion pricing this year. The bill, which he heavily lobbied for in 2007, was narrowly passed in the New York City Council, and was sent up to Albany.

It died in the Assembly when the Democratic conference decided not to let the bill out of committee. (It's unclear if there were enough votes for it to pass the Republican-controlled State Senate).

"I'm not going to come back and fight that battle," said Bloomberg, citing the political risk City Council members took in supporting it, only to see it die in Albany without a vote.

Later, when asked if congestion pricing as a "dead" issue, Bloomberg told reporters it's up to state lawmakers to come up with a way to fund the state's mass transit's needs, saying, he is "not going to stand up and campaign for it."

As prepared:

"The answer lies not in the market, or in the stars, but in ourselves. We need to right-size pension benefits to save City taxpayers and City workers. The answer lies not in the market, or in the stars, but in ourselves. We need to right-size pension benefits to save City taxpayers and City workers."

Avella announced Friday afternoon he'll push term-limits legislation in Albany. (azi paybarah / wnyc)

State Senator Tony Avella, a freshman Democrat from northeast Queens, was an outspoken defender of term limits when he was in the City Council.

He wants state lawmakers to serve for 4-year terms, and in total, to only serve fro 16 years. Staying longer makes elected officials "stagnant, arrogant and reluctant to adopt new ideas."

Which should gin up lots of support colleagues. Also, announcing the legislation on a Friday afternoon says something about how much political capital he's putting behind the effort.

Syosset Central School Superintendent Carole Hankin is among the top-paid in the state. (http://www.gogomag.com/talkingheads)

They came in for particularly harsh treatment in Andrew Cuomo's budget presentation, with the governor joking he'd tried unsuccessfully to apply for one job making $386,000.

I'm told that particular six-figure-job is based out of Syosset Central School District, which, according to this web site, is now paying their top administrator, Carole Hankin, $485,246.42. In fact, 512 employees in that district make six figures, in salaries and benefits, according to SeeThroughNY.

The district offers something of a unique experience for it's 6,700 students according to this interview with Hankin:

There’s the elementary foreign language program, which offers students a virtual, whirlwind trip around the globe before they’re in their teens: Russian in kindergarten; Chinese in first grade; Spanish, French, and Italian in grades two, three, and four; and Latin in grade five. For those who may struggle with the rigors of A.P. Physics, there’s a high school course in forensics...

There’s also a middle school etiquette course, a yoga strand to help young children focus their minds and bodies, and teaching relationships with some of Manhattan’s finest institutions, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Philharmonic, Rockefeller and Columbia Universities.

And this one, "Hankin is known to pick up the phone frequently to call upon her local legislators for funding above and beyond her annual budget allotments, often with successful results."

A person who answered the phone at the Syosset school district said someone would be available to comment, later. Hankin's colleagues on Long Island are also well-paid.

[H/t Michelle Breidenbach]

The salmon-colored weekly has a unique take on covering the news. (http://drawger.com/drewfriedman)

After just over a year, New York Observer editor Kyle Pope is being replaced, by Elizabeth Spiers, who will oversee the paper and their web site.

Pope arrived at the Observer in 2009 from Conde Nast, following the resignation of Tom McGeveran, who ran the paper after Peter Kaplan left. During Pope's time there, almost the entire editorial staff (full disclosure: including me) left.

The paper had a mandate of chronicling the oversize characters in New York politics, media, real estate and culture. I’ve always thought of it as a weekly installment of Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, but with better art and more four-letter words.

The ranks of top media outlets in New York and Washington are studded with Observer alumni, some of whom went on to create new outlets for there work. It was, for example, the first place to give a blog to Ben Smith, who later went on to launch sites at the Daily News, and the independent Room 8, before moving to a brand-new Politico. Former editor Choire Sicha, who is also a former editor at Gawker, went on to found The Awl. McGeveran founded Capital New York. (McGeveran's take on the change is worth a read.)

Kushner is known to have looked at Gawker as a competitor and tormentor, but also as model. Low overhead, high traffic, intense readability: What wasn't to like?

It’s also a place the new Observer editor is intimately familiar with: Spiers is a founding editor of the site.

There's been some dispute between aides to Bloomberg and Cuomo about the size of the cuts the city would absorb in Cuomo's proposed budget.

$2 billion, is the figure Bloomberg is using. Cuomo aides say it's far lower.

This morning, Bloomberg explained his figure is based on money he said was promised to him by the previous governor, plus the loss of "revenue sharing" on social programs that Albany will no longer fund.

"They're not going to do their fair share. Now, the city can't afford to pick up the balance," said the mayor.

Also, Bloomberg complained about a state law driving up education costs in the city

"One of the biggest drivers in the reason our education budget keeps going up is, there's something like a 19 percent increase built in for special ed, mandated by the state," said Bloomberg.

More from Bloomberg's radio show this morning: 

Michael Bloomberg says he neither supports, or opposes, Wal-Mart's efforts to open their first store in New York City, but simply doesn't like the idea of a legislative body tinkering with the free market in an effort to block one store in particular.

During an interview with Joyce Purnick for her book, the mayor was more outspoken about the City Council's successful efforts at blocking the giant retailer.

"Everybody leaves to go to Nassau County or Westchester. Shirley Franklin, the mayor of Atlanta, she laughed at me in the face. They just got the biggest Wal-Mart in Atlanta -- she was thrilled. Only we can turn victory into shit.''

azi paybarah / wnyc

The mayor chided attendees at recent education meetings for their outbursts [file photo

That's Michael Bloomberg's take on the volatile behavior attendees have demonstrated at the recent meetings for the Panel for Educational Policy.

"The decorum - this is embarrassing for New York City, New York State, for America," Bloomberg said on WOR this morning. "This is not democracy, letting people yell and scream. That's not freedom of expression. That's just taking away someone else's rights."

The latest PEP meeting, where outrage was loudly expressed, was last night. The panel voted to close 12 failing schools - which comes on top of a similar meeting Tuesday to close 10 other schools.

Michael Bloomberg says the answer is to cut the $12,000 payment the city makes to retired firefighters and police officers.

"We need the governor to put it into the budget," Bloomberg said this morning on WOR. "That would save 10,000 teacher jobs right there alone."

The mayor is set to testify in Albany on Monday about the governor's proposed budget. On February 17, the mayor will deliver his preliminary budget to city lawmakers.

Michael Bloomberg has been trying to get Governor Cuomo to come out in favor of abolishing the Last In First Out rule protecting longer-serving teachers from layoffs.

Cuomo doesn't embrace it fully,saying not to "penalize seniority" but rather incorporate "objective, fair" criteria into the equation.

Cuomo:

"I think there is a receptivity that there should be objective, fair criteria that don't penalize seniority but that also understand that there are other criteria to take into consideration. That's a conversation worth having."

Which, with the City Council pushing hard against the giant retailer, basically puts Bloomberg in the pro category.

From his Q&A; today:

No I don’t support Walmart opening a store. I don’t think the city should tell anybody that they can’t come here. If Walmart wants to come, that’s their business. If you want to work for them, work for them, if you want to shop there, shop there, if you don’t you don’t. We’re not here either pro or against. This city should be open to business to anyone who wants to come here.

Gotham Gazette introduces Councilpedia (gotham gazette)

You can search a politician's campaign donations, the bills he or she sponsored and member items -- and then tell us what you know. Did a candidate take money from a developer charged with building code violations? Click on that contribution and tell us. Did another council member introduce legislation at the urging of a particular union? Connect those dots for us. And you can read and discuss comments by other readers. We'll review submissions as promptly as possible -- and let you know which ones check out.

Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen on Vimeo.

Alexander Chen conducts music, based on train schedules. Just enjoy it.

City Hall reporters swarm then-NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. (azi paybarah / wnyc)

Kaye:

What should Congress do to prevent people like Jared Loughner from being able to purchase the weaponry he used? The media should have immediately turned a bright spotlight on our gun laws and then inquired into why the shootings generated so little momentum for reform. We’ve seen a little of that, but it’s been buried in the avalanche of opining about political speech.

Then House Republicans got back to work trying to dismantle healthcare reform. When Democrats were struggling to pass reform last year, we were inundated, via the media, with the sights and sounds of angry protesters. Watching the news accounts, you would have thought America was rising up in full-throated revolt. Of course, we now know that many of those protests were manufactured by conservative operatives.

With Republicans flexing their newfound majority in the House, the media had an opportunity to delve into the effect undoing health reform would have on millions of Americans who enjoy benefits they’ve never had before. Instead, the reporting was disproportionately about the kinds of words Republicans and Democrats used during floor debate. That was great news for Republicans—they could offer a sop to their base without alienating a broader swath of the electorate. Not so great for those of us who hope that newscasts will feature news. [Read the U.S. News debate: Should the healthcare law be repealed?]

And then there was the State of the Union. I think the bipartisan seating arrangement was a fine gesture, and I suspect its sponsors would suggest that it was meant to be nothing more. But the fourth estate couldn’t get enough—about which I would like to offer the following: If we have really come to the point where Congress is to be complimented for comporting itself as we would expect, say, a fifth grade classroom to do, then perhaps it is time to rethink this whole democratic experiment. Honestly. That is a low, low bar.

Cuomo takes his budget argument past the media, and releases this video, saying his financial proposal will "shake up the Albany establishment. But this is exactly what we must do."

The scape-goat in Cuomo's telling of the budget, is "Albany."

"When you pull back the curtain in Albany, you find a government working more for the special interests and the lobbyists than for the people."

He says, "Only government hasn't adjusted to the new economic reality" and "I will be attacked by these special interests."

It's an pre-emptive move against attack ads Cuomo says is coming because he's trimming the state budget.

So, just a few words on where Andrew Cuomo expects to raise money for his budget without raises taxes.

Basically, it's mostly coming from gambling.

From the "Revenue Actions" section of the governor's budget book:

$11,922,000 - an "amended fee" for people requesting Security Clearance Requests clearance checks - jumping fro $5 to $60.

$7,600,000 - a new 2 3/4 percent charge on "purses for all horse races conducted within the state."

$22,000,000 - repealing a tax benefit for "cooperative insurance companies" with profits exceeding $25 million.

$5,000,000 - automatically withholding a lottery winner's unpaid taxes.

$200,000,000 - requiring all sales tax vendors to file their taxes electronically, which will result "in increased State revenue through denied refunds." Also, require "more frequent filing from sales tax filers who have poor filing records."

$38,000,000 - granting "free game credits" on video lottery games "to induce frequent players to use paid credits [money] when their 'free play' is exhausted."

$4,000,000 - expand the number of certain instant games.

$10,000,000 - eliminate certain restrictions on where Quick Draw machines can be located.

$2,000,000 - combining video lottery games here with progressive jackpots (which grow larger until there's a winner).

$100,000,000-expand the Lottery sales force, and add things like a "Megaplier" feature on the Mega Millions game.

$55,000,000 - shorten the length of time a vendor is allowed to hold onto uncollected property or money, from 5 or 6 years, down to 3 years. Uncollected money is turned over to the state.

These actions are expected to raise $455,552,000 this year, in Cuomo's budget.

On Maddow last night, Bloomberg pressed the White House to move ahead with gun control enforcement - something the mayor says they can do without congressional approval.

In particular, the mayor wants more intel sent to the national gun registry, which could weed out drug addicts, felons and other people who should be barred from buying gun. So far, Bloomberg says not enough info is being sent to the registry.

Bloomberg:

Obama "can stand up to federal agencies, that he directs, you will send the data to this database and I want you to certify to me every six months to me that you are doing that."