....March 25, 3:02 AM
 
 
   
A Sad April Fools Joke & Free Parking

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

Stop the presses.

The folks at the New York State Assembly – the same folks who have brought you late and inept budgets for the past 20 years – have just awakened from their two-decade hibernation.

Now to be fair, they represent only one-third of the failure in New York State – the NYS Senate and the Governor are equally complicit — but they are our failure, overwhelmingly in control of New York City Democrats.

Part of the Assembly’s awakening is their new-found optimism that the next budget can be passed on time – well sort of. You can read in the dailies of the new Albany buzz that there may be an on-time budget for the first time in the lives of your college-age children. We heard it in a letter from our biggest critic in Albany, Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly.

Ivan writes: “I am optimistic there can be a state budget completed by the April 1st deadline.”

And then the excuses begin: “I also believe that an on-time budget is contingent upon the governor’s willingness to negotiate with the Legislature in good faith.

And finally, and most egregious, is the omission in Lafayette’s letter – or rather deception – the NYS Assembly will make no attempt in the budget to comply with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) Court mandate to properly fund New York City Schools.

The Assembly Dems are now abandoning what is perhaps the most important budgetary issue to our City, in contrast to their position of last year, where they blamed the all-time record lateness of the budget on the need to increase education funding and address the CFE court decision.

So when under pressure, Lafayette and his colleagues finally yield to our and others’ demand of responsible, on-time budgeting, they abandon the children of New York City and the educational system. They walk away from the problem and leave it to the courts to do their jobs.

Remember when well over a year ago we started calling the NYS Legislature the 50th best in the nation?

Remember the Brennan Commission report then labeled the New York State Legislature as the worst in the Nation?
Remember both houses responding with pledges of reform?
We still sit and wait for substantive changes.

Responding to Sunday’s published report in the NY Times: “As State lawmakers strive to put together a budget before the April 1 deadline...... Any attempt to . . . pump more money into NYC’s public schools has been left out . . .” Our friend Congressman Gary Ackerman, a former State Senator, noted: “At least they’re getting the trains to run on time. Not well, but on time.”

As the April 1 deadline approaches, and the Congressman and others are convinced that the deception of an on-time budget will occur, we can only marvel at the genius who foresaw the irony of the moment and chose the budget due date as April Fools Day.

A bad on-time budget is a poor excuse for reform.
We remain unimpressed with changes in the State Legislature.

Throw the bums out.

With God On Their Side?

Our friend Hiram Monserrate has been running around the city advocating that “parking meter regulations” be suspended on Sundays. Last week, Hiram the leading advocate to “repeal the Sunday parking tax,” as he calls it, visited three boroughs and either at churches or with religious leaders called for the elimination of Sunday metered parking in the name of allowing people to worship without a parking tax.

Although others who have announced their support for the elimination of Sunday meters have additional reasons, religious worship is apparently the most consistent and central theme of the free Sunday advocates.

Friends who have consistently shown good judgment have come out in favor of this “Free Sunday” proposal. We’ve looked at the list of cosponsors and chatted with a couple of them.

Our friend and Mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer at the Great Deliverance Temple in East Harlem joined the chorus: “I believe that there shouldn’t be a tax on worshiping. So today, let us call on Mayor Bloomberg to repeal parking meter restrictions on Sundays in the areas around our places of worship. People shouldn’t have to pay to pray. People shouldn’t have to feed the meter to worship.City Hall needs to understand that this place of worship that we’re in today, and the time we spend here, are sacred.”

Now, understand we are not religious. But in my religion, Saturday, not Sunday, is the day of worship. I’m told by a Muslim friend that Friday is their day. I’m not sure when Hindus or Buddhists attend their temples or churches.
I do know that our country is founded on the principle of separation of church and state. I do know that Hiram, Freddy and my well-meaning friends have no intention of placing Christianity in line before Judaism or Islam or any of the other faiths of the multi diverse city and borough.

How can the City Council not consider the reform synagogue to which Jews drive on Saturday? Or the Friday Mosque service or Lunar New Year or whatever?

Or should we treat Sunday like any other day and avoid the slippery slope of religious preference?

And by the way, are atheists entitled to a free parking day on which not to worship?

Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.

 
 
The Politician Climbs The Slippery Pole

Henry Stern
By HENRY STERN

The world of politics is the world of pretense. This is true for a number of reasons. One is that it attracts people with large egos and urgent desires for recognition and acceptance. Being physically attractive is helpful but not a requirement (Rule 32-P: Politics is Hollywood for ugly people). Intelligence is helpful, but shrewdness is a greater asset. Candidates twist themselves into knots to make a favorable impression. Which reminds me:

Long years ago, in my first term in Parks, I was downtown watching the line waiting to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. At that time, street performers did their thing on the broad promenade, paved with hex blocks, between New York Harbor and Battery Park. One actor was a contortionist, a smallish man, not young, who appeared to be from India or Bangladesh. He was double-jointed, of course, and he twisted his arms and legs into what seemed impossible positions. The climax of his act was sealing himself in a transparent plastic cube that could not have been more than two feet in each dimension, and looked as if it were somewhat smaller. I never saw the box-man again, but he made a lifelong impression, and the analogy I draw is how people can transform themselves if it is good for business.

Another reason politicians sometimes disappoint is that the sine qua non of elective politics is getting elected. It is much easier to effect change from within than from without. Having done both over the years, I know. Doing it yourself is better than explaining it to people, a lot of whom think that being elected or appointed to something makes them better than you or any other member of the public.

Fortunately, starting with a loss does not necessarily put an end to a career in politics, particularly for the persistent. Ed Koch lost his first race, in 1962, for the Democratic nomination for the State Assembly from Greenwich Village. Mario Cuomo was defeated, in 1974, for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Rudy Giuliani lost, in 1989, when he ran for mayor. Bill Clinton was defeated for Congress in Arkansas, and Bush 43 lost for Congress in the heart of Texas, while his father, Bush 41, was defeated for a Senate seat from the entire state. Going back a century and a half, who was elected to the Senate from Illinois in 1858? Stephen A. Douglas, “the Little Giant,” coming off a statewide series of debates with a former one-term congressman known for splitting rails and representing railroads.

Thoughtful people will realize that there is often a dichotomy between what a public official believes is right and what his/her constituents want him/her to do. If you disappoint them too often, the voters, possibly assisted by lobbyists or political machines, will find someone else who will actually represent them. If you do everything they want, you are likely to disappoint those who think like you and believe in you, and you will trash whatever is left of your conscience.

Many elected officials tread warily and thoughtfully between the poles of independence and submission. Some politicians, however, are untroubled by doubt, possibly because they have no conception as to what is right, or because their votes are really not their own, but dictated by party leaders, lobbyists, major contributors, editors and publishers, the chattering classes, well-stuffed envelopes or special friends.

Reflecting on the structure of our government, and considering the frailty of human nature, it is remarkable that things come out as well as they do, most of the time. Of course, the system is inadequate to meet the people’s needs, particularly the problems of the less fortunate or the less gifted, although we do well compared with most other places. But our institutions work better when there is constant pressure from outsiders for honesty, efficiency, transparency and justice. The natural tendency of human institutions and their hierarchies, whether business, labor, political, military, religious, academic, you name it, is to become self-serving. There is almost always some need for reform, restructuring, and even some redistribution when one part grows too fat.

Although some reformers, and many incumbents, may be righteous hypocrites, limousine liberals, petty scolds or naive do-gooders, it is important for leaders to arise who will challenge power in a society which swings too far in the direction of the self interest of the powerful and the privileged, a group that extends far beyond the wealthy.
Henry Stern: Starquest@NYCivic.org

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato
Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.