Showing posts with label Stephen Goldsmith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Goldsmith. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

CityTime Mayoral Control Freak

Michael Bloomberg Has Been Advocating Mayoral Control Over Everything, Including Espousing An End To Progressive Era Reforms, But Mayor Bloomberg Accepts No Responsibility That Comes With Being A Control Freak.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has asserted mayoral control over the public education system, trans fats, and even sugary sodas.

We have even reached a state, where the famous photographer Clayton Patterson has described how citizens need protection from Mayor Bloomberg's out-of-control need to control (aka ''destroy'') everything that is good about New York City.

AND YET, in the aftermath of the theft of what may turn out to be over $100 million in taxpayer money connected to fraudulent consulting fees (Investigators and prosecutors can only now prove that $80 million was stolen, but the scandalous CityTime project is $650 million over budget, so the investigations and audits are not yet done.), Mayor Bloomberg claims he was caught unaware of the corruption. According to an editorial, The New York Post holds that Mayor Bloomberg is responsible for the ''breakdown'' that lead to the CityTime scandal.

Mayor Bloomberg, and his deputy mayor, Stephen Goldsmith, have been arguing that we need to end many progressive era reforms, which were enacted to put a check on this very kind of corruption, because, in their ideological worldview, they want city managers to have more discretion over the business of New York City.

City Councilmember Letitia James, who is acting more and more like a public advocate, is criticising Mayor Bloomberg for his negligence. Did the mayor and his deputy mayor not know that when you give city managers, including mayors and deputy mayors, unchecked discretion over running the business of the city, that you lay the groundwork for spectacular corruptions to take place ?

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Christine Quinn's CityTime Scandal Dishonesty

Best Little Sidestep in NY City Council : ''No one, even in the Daily News, would have thought this was happening,'' said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Really ?

Last week, a giant scandal of theft of possibly over $100 million dollars in taxpayer money began to break wide open, exposing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a self-described financial Wizard of Oz who argued his experience in funneling money should earn him a controversial third term in office, to criticism that he was no wizard at all. Joel Bondy, the executive director of the Office of Payroll Administration, was suspended after investigators alleged that city contractors used fraud to rob the city of at least $80 million under the CityTime automated payroll system that, contrary to Speaker Quinn's denial, has been under intense scrutiny for several years as a result of the system's runaway, costly over-runs.

Here is the text of the shocking statement, made in total denial by Speaker Quinn, after details of the first $80 million of theft was exposed by a joint investigation team :

''No one, even in the Daily News, would have thought this was happening. ... The Council's had a number of oversight hearings on CityTime. I think we're all anxiously awaiting the results of what the deputy mayor will find. You know, everyone was very unhappy I think across the city to hear this yesterday. But I was grateful to the mayor that he reacted quickly and thoroughly and that he's putting the deputy mayor in charge. ... I don't know that he could have done anything more quickly than as soon as he found out yesterday. You know, you can't, sometimes these investigations start and you can't, you may even know about them, and you can't do anything. They have to play their course out to get to the point where law enforcement can make the arrest. So really, the mayor could not have done anything until after yesterday. He didn't let any grass grow under his feet.''

The $80 million theft led to the emergency announcement that Mr. Bondy would be suspended. It was separately reported by NY1 that,''In the wake of Bondy's suspension, Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith will have direct oversight of the CityTime payroll system.''

Meanwhile, many people believe that the $80 million that prosecutors alleged has been stolen, is only the tip of the iceberg. As early as March 2008, questions were being raised around a shady government contract that was awarded to Science Applications International Corporation (''SAIC''). SAIC is the main contractor for the CityTime automated payroll system ; at the time the contract was awarded, it was reported to be worth only $68 million. As of March 2008, that contract had been inflated by an additional $280 million and was, at that time, worth a total of $348 million. So far, prosecutors can prove that $80 million has been stolen.

In a separate analysis of the CityTime scandal, the newsroom of WNYC radio has estimated that, to date, New York City has spent ''more than $630 million on CityTime, which was supposed to cost just $63 million.''

More and more, $80 million looks like just the tip of the iceberg.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

NYPD gay entrapment lawsuit update

City Fails in Bid to Block Porn Bust Suit ; Judge rules Robert Pinter’s allegations, if proved, show no probable cause for arrest -- Gay City News

"A federal judge Tuesday refused to toss out a gay Manhattan man's malicious-prosecution suit against the city, saying the NYPD's actions in arresting him appeared 'unsettling and inappropriate,' " The New York Daily News reported.

Mr. Pinter had been arrested in 2008 under a systematic and organised progam by NYPD that targeted sex shoppes ; by early 2009, community backlash to the entrapment arrests had begun to culminate in protests ; one such protest took place near New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Upper East Side townhouse. The mayor oversees and is ultimately accountable for the actions by the NYPD.

The NYPD have to end their systematic, organised, and targeted discrimination against the GLBT community. And the mayor has to do something about it, he can, you know? So, let's see him put his money where his MOUTH is.

Mayor Bloomberg is responsible for appealing a 2005 court ruling that favoured marriage equality ; meanwhile, Bloombo Dicto marches in Gay Pride Parades ; meanwhile, Bloombo Dicto recruited homophobic Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, who refused to acknowledge Gay Pride in Indianapolis ; meanwhile, GLBT politicians still align themselves with this two-timing mayor.

By 2009, Bloombo Dicto was again courting the GLBT vote by supporting marriage equality, but this time GLBT voters had begun to wise up. It is high time for more voters to take Mayor Bloomberg, and his enablers, to political divorce court.