Azi Paybarah appears in the following:
Cuomo, the Transformer
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
My story:
He equated it to Enron, said it defied logic and warned (or perhaps, promised) that fixing it would send lobbyists "running around the hallways like their hair is on fire."
New York's new Democratic governor said he wanted to replace formulas that called for annual double-digit increases to the state's most expensive programs, with more modest rates of growth, that also, for the first time, took performance into account.
By the end of his hour-long presentation Monday, Governor Cuomo had cast himself as a transformer: changing Albany's decades-old budget habits, and repositioning the state "nationally" as an economic destination for the private sector.
And
E.J. McMahon, a budet expert with the business-backed Manhattan institute, said eliminating the formulas was indeed a shock to the Albany system, but the rest of Cuomo's budget was not extraordinary.
The elimination of those automatic cost increases "'just drives people here crazy. I love it," said McMahon. He said Cuomo did nothing to empower school districts to cut program costs hoisted upon them. McMahon also doubted the Medicaid Redesign Team which Cuomo empaneled — which included legislator and organizations representing health care workers and hospital operators — would come up with any drastic changes to the program.
"That crew ,on that Medicaid Redesign Team, they may hit a target of 2 billion and change — they aint going to change Medicaid," said McMahon. "All right. They're going to find a way to get through this year, you know what I mean. That group, they putting the stakeholders in a can, shaking it up and seeing what comes out is not going to alter Medicaid for all-time. What it is, is 'I'm putting a gun to their head and saying 2 billion my way or 2 billion your way.'"
Bloomberg says Cuomo hits NYC unfairly
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Bloomberg:
"State mandates will contribute to increasing the cost of special education related services in our public schools by almost 13 percent next year. And our mandated pension costs will go up 19 percent."
Lovett and Blaine put the total hit to NYC at $700 million.
Cuomo's budget would 'decimate' health care, says health care groups
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
The reactions from 1199 SEIU, the union representing health care workers, and the Greater New York Hospital Association is...not supportive.
Interestingly, both are on the Medicaid Redesign Team, which Cuomo is banking on coming up with $2.8 billion in savings.
The two organizations put out a joint statement, the group said the cuts, combined with the loss of matching federal dollars, would mean New York would lose "$5.9 billion in Medicaid funding."
The impact?
It would "decimate New York’s health care infrastructure, threaten access to care, and harm communities everywhere. For hospitals, nursing homes and home care workers, the cuts would trigger further reductions in care, layoffs, and outright closures."
Full statement after the jump.
UPDATE: 1199 SEIU is hosting a rally in Manhattan on February 3, to protest "the unprecedented budget crisis in Albany [that] could lead to devastating cuts in the delivery of homecare."
Cuomo, live
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
After getting a standing ovation, Cuomo joked that he went to his dentist for a root canal as a "welcomed" distraction from the budget, which is already raising howls from some critics for its drastic cuts in education and other programs.
Budget Director Robert Megna has called this a "transformational budget."
The 2011 Budget
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Via Liz Benjamin.
UPDATE: In a press release accompanying the budget proposal, there is a reference to "one new fee" that is being introduced, along with "$805 million in non-recurring actions."
UPDATE II: The new fee is a surcharge on horse racing purses, estimated to bring in about $7 million. So, if you don't bet on the ponies, you probably won't notice it.
Cuomo on reducing Medicaid, closing prisons
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Cuomo's budget presentation is pretty consistent with what he's been saying all along: no new taxes, no borrowing, and across-the-board cuts.
But there are parts of the budget that assume cooperation among some well-entrenched interests.
Medicaid. The budget relies on the Medicaid Redesign Team "will identify initiates to reduce state Medicaid spending by $2.85 billion for 2011-12 and by $4.6 billion in 2012-13." They'll find these savings by "modifying program requirements and limiting spending growth."
The Medicaid Redesign Team - which includes legislators and members from the health care industry and unions representing health care workers - has not yet announced their recommendations. That'll come on March 1.
Prison Consolidation. To close prisons, Cuomo is offering up to $100 million to those communities to wean them off those institutions as a form of economic development. (The New York Times earlier said Cuomo wouldn't press this issue in his budget presentation.)
While closing prisons is unpopular with local lawmakers who rely on those facilities to employ constituents, the $100 million carrot should be enticing.
And, if not, there's always the stick.
Cuomo will create a "task force by Executive Order" to make recommendations. If the recommendations are rejected by the legislature, the commissioner of Correctional Services (which is appointed by the governor) "would be empowered to implement facility closures."
"Communities affected by the closures wold receive assistance" from the governor's new Regional Economic Development Councils, with "$100 million available to help communities end their reliance on incarceration as a major source of employment."
Cuomo's budget
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
I'm going through Cuomo's budget book now, but here are some highlights:
9,800 layoffs, in addition to attrition
$41.5 million- how much is expected to be raised from "enhanced collections from existing taxes"
$0-Aid and Incentives for Municipalities to New York City.
UPDATE: Some photographs from inside the budget book.
Paladino to Public Radio Reporter: 'You can't ask me a question'
Monday, January 31, 2011
Carl Paladino, in Albany, keeps it entertaining.
I'm not sure what the backstory here is, but Paladino jabbing with reporters is nothing new. During the governor's campaign, he blacklisted AP reporter Beth Fouhy. Afterwards, he's called for his supporters to cancel their subscriptions to the Buffalo News, his hometown paper.
For what it's worth, the public radio reporter rebuffed in the video above, Karen DeWitt, kept her cool and avoided making any Youtube viral video moments, which, as Fred Dicker demonstrated can happen when questioning Paladino.
Daily News to feature Uptown News
Monday, January 31, 2011
The tabloid announces a concerted effort to go local, and expand the map. Their main competitor, the New York Post, is unlike to chase them into side streets of El Barrio or through the Cloisters. But the push to go more local is catching on with some New York outlets.
UPDATE: Uptown bureau chief Joanne Wasserman takes to Facebok: "The New York Daily News is going uptown with a new section starting Feb. 10 - and I'm editing it! Can't wait to hear from all of you with stories about Harlem, East Harlem, Inwood and Washington Heights."
The official announcement, from the Daily News:
Beginning Thursday, February 10, residents in northern Manhattan will find local coverage of their neighborhoods in the Daily News’ Uptown News section three days a week on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The Daily News is publishing this new section for the more than 515,000 residents that live in these storied neighborhoods, which are home to some of New York’s most historically promininent sites, such as the Apollo Theatre in Harlem; El Museo Del Barrio in East Harlem; the Cloisters in Inwood; New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Washington Heights - not to mention home to Daily News readers. JoAnne Wasserman has been named the Uptown News Bureau Chief and will oversee the production of the new borough news section.
Uptown News reporter Michael Feeney, a Harlem resident, and Pulitzer prize-winner Heidi Evans will report on area schools, crime, housing, arts and culture, local businesses and residents. The three-day a week section will also include: a weekly column by the News’ own Clem Richardson spotlighting these neighborhoods; a weekly political column by veteran reporter Frank Lombardi; and a weekly review of the best of everything in the neighborhood, from bakeries to bookstores; playgrounds to swimming pools.
Barrett to Daily Beast, Robbins aims at the rich
Monday, January 31, 2011
Jeremy Peters has the story about Barrett's new job. He was let go from the Village Voice because of budgetary reasons. In a sign of solidarity, colleague Tom Robbins said at the time he'd leave the paper too.
Speaking on New York 1 on Friday, Robbins said his last column for the Voice will be about the millionaire's tax debate brewing in Albany.
The topic is classic Robbins: the middle class and poor fighting against the rich through the sometimes comically arcane world of politics.
It has not yet been announced which news outlet will snatch up Robbins.
Cuomo cracks the budget code
Monday, January 31, 2011
In an op-ed, Andrew Cuomo says he's uncovered something "close to a state secret." The cost of health care, education and other state-funded programs are calculated based on formulas that wildly increase prices, and that this growth in cost is blindly incorporated in budget negotiations.
The program costs, Cuomo writes in the op-ed are:
"dictated by hundreds of rates and formulas that are marbleized throughout New York State laws that govern different programs – formulas that have been built into the law over decades, without regard to fiscal realities, performance or accountability…this year these rates and formulas in total call for a 13 percent increase in Medicaid and a 13 percent increase in education funding next year…[therefore] a “cut” is then defined as anything less than a 13 percent increase."
He adds:
The expression used to explain this budget process is that the rates are in “permanent law,” and thus, cannot be changed. “Permanent law” is a term to suggest differentiation from the state’s annual budget bills which are “temporary” as they only exist for one year. This “permanent law” is really the way the “permanent government” of lobbyists, special interests and political friends manipulates the entire system and misleads the public in the process.
This is the system that has brought New York to the brink, and it is why we are the highest “spending-and-taxing” state in the nation with programs that fail to perform for the people.
This all must end.
buying guns
Monday, January 31, 2011
Michael Bloomberg released three videos of an undercover agent buying guns and extended clip magazines at a Phoenix, AZ gun show. The show's proximity to the location and date of the Jared Loughner shooting are key tools in Bloomberg's latest argument.
Question 1: How easy is it to buy a gun without a background check?
Result: An undercover investigator bought a Glock 9-millimeter pistol, similar to the weapon used by Jared Loughner, from a private seller without a background check. Under current law, this no-background-check sale is legal assuming the man making the sale is in fact only an occasional seller. The investigator also bought three high-capacity 33-round magazines like the one Loughner used.
Question 2: Would private sellers sell guns to people who said they probably could not pass a background check?
Result: An undercover investigator bought two 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistols from two different private sellers. In these buys, the investigator told the sellers “I probably couldn’t pass a background check.”
reading Cuomo's property property tax
Monday, January 31, 2011
Financial experts with the state teachers union are saying the property tax cap bill Cuomo introduced is more drastic than the governor has let on. Instead of a 2 percent increase, the bill, they say, could cut that down to 0.
If the district is asking voters to approve a levy increase which is higher than the lesser of 2% of inflation, then 60% of voters must approve the tax levy. If the voters defeat the proposed tax levy, then they will hold a second vote on the third Tuesday of June. If the tax levy cap is defeated two times by the voters, then the school district may not increase its tax levy at all from the prior year. Therefore, this bill sets a 0% tax cap on school districts.
Sliwa and Borrero
Monday, January 31, 2011
The duo paired by NY1, is taking their act to Sliwa's radio station, starting tomorrow afternoon.
Official announcement after the jump.
Times reporter calls Post snow coverage 'tabloidy'
Monday, January 31, 2011
The New York Times ran a story last week questioning the claims made by a City Councilman who said sanitation workers intentionally did a poor job of removing snow during the Christmas weekend blizzard.
Now, a reporter for the paper is questioning the coverage surrounding that claim.
The New York Post first reported the claims by Councilman Dan Halloran, but, according to Times metro political reporter Michael Barbaro, the Post has not been as thorough in reporting on the state of the investigation which has stalled, amid a lack of verifying evidence.
Speaking on the New York Times Close Up (a New York 1 show featuring Times reporters discussing stories of the week), Barbaro said, "This was a really tabloidy moment, in the coverage of the blizzard."
"And, you'll be holding your breath for a very long time if you wait for the New York Post, whichoriginally reported this - sort of salaciously and loudly on the front of their paper - to come back at it and say 'the person we quoted as saying there was a deliberate slowdown, you know, is withering under investigation, [there's] no evidence of it.' "
Then, referring to his colleagues, Russ Buettner and William Rashbaum's story, Barbaro added, "The reality is, it took some really enterprising reporters to fact-check a claim that rocketed around the world and everyone took to be the truth…and now it seems to be crumbling."
As Josh Benson and I discussed earlier, whether Halloran's claims are verified by investigators or not, one thing is certain: it has taken the spotlight off Mayor Bloomberg's handling of the storm.
UPDATE: Columbia Journalism Review's Ryan Chittum piles on, criticizing how easily the story got picked up, especially on cable news.
UPDATE II: Two other things worth noting: First, the Post coverage wasn't based solely on Halloran's comments. Later stories quoted local residents and even another lawmaker, Councilwoman Tish James, who said on a radio show in December, "I do believe that there were a few [workers] that in fact engaged in a slow down." Democratic State Senator Malcolm Smith said he "heard it from sanitation workers that there was a concerted effort" to slow the street plowing.
Secondly, investigators have not commented publicly about this ongoing investigation, so, the official ruling hasn't come in yet.
How a popular governor braces for an unpopular budget
Monday, January 31, 2011
Part of Cuomo's tools have been direct appeals to lawmakers, lots of food, and, notably, a lack of demonizing the people who got the state into the fiscal mess.
Cuomo has taken a matter-of-fact tone to describe the drastic maneuvers he's about to unveil, saying it's the result of a "national economic decline, on top of a state that has been spending too much money for too long."
"Those two facts are now compounding and the chickens are coming home to roost," he said in Poughkeepsie earlier this month.
All that spending — those chickens coming home — went set in motion, year in and year out, by the legislators in Albany. But unlike his predecessors, Cuomo isn't steamrolling, scapegoating or even blaming them.
If anything, he's bludgeoning them with charm.
"The New York State legislature is, historically, the best legislature in the nation," he said in his State of the State speech. "The most talented people — those who we are. That's who we are. And that's who we can be again."
Everyone applauded.
Bloomberg: state 'must' combine school cuts with rules change
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Governor Cuomo is, reportedly, not eager to embrace Michael Bloomberg's call to change laws that require teacher layoffs be based on seniority, rather than merit, known as Last In, First Out.
It's an important rule, considering all the cuts Cuomo is expected to announce when he unveils his budget on Tuesday.
At a church this morning, Bloomberg kept pressing his case.
"I say: Enough with Albany rules. You just cannot do this. If the Governor's budget contains education cuts, it must also contain changes to the law so that we can take merit into account when making these difficult decisions," Bloomberg said, according to a transcript sent out by a spokesman.
how much food to serve when negotiating an austere budget?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thomas Kaplan has a good peek inside the governor's mansion, where Cuomo has relocated much of the budget talks with legislators. There, the governor is plying his audience with food and beverages as he tries getting them to support what is expected to be a painfulround of budget cuts.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - whose support is crucial for the governor - is quoted saying after his meeting, "They served too much."
Not everyone feels the same way.
On Monday, Cuomo hosted members of the Brooklyn, Bronx and Westchester delegations. Among the attendees was Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from Brooklyn. He said the wooing he got from the governor was more modest, and in keeping with his fiscally conservative talking points.
"I think the most generous way I can describe it was 'light refreshments,' " Jeffries, of the meeting. "Clearly it was consistent with the notion that we are in austere times and the days of wine and roses are over. And it was made clear to us in advance of the meeting: Don’t cancel your dinner plans."
to move Democrats, a Republican points to a rule set by Democrats
Friday, January 28, 2011
The leader of the State Senate, Republican Dean Skelos, is defending a move to kick several Democratic senators out of their offices...because their rents are too (damn!) high.
"The Democrats, when they were in the majority in the Senate, set certain parameters as to district offices. $40,000 here in the city. Malcolm Smith is spending $100,000...Dan Squadron is spending over $80,000. So, they're violating their own guidelines."
Skelos, speaking to reporters after an appearance at the Association for a Better New York in Manhattan this morning, said the state senate simply can't afford those kinds of rents.