Category: News and Opinion

This a major victory for New York’s new governor.

Late budgets became a major problem in New York State for Andrew Cuomo’s father Mario, who had three terms running NYS, but the younger Cuomo has delivered!

It seemed highly doubtful when Andrew Cuomo vowed he would close the 10 billion dollar budget gap with no new tax hikes or borrowing, but that is exactly what he has done.

Gov. Cuomo and lawmakers announced agreement Sunday on a $132.5 billion spending plan, clearing the way for the state's first on-time budget since 2006.

I may be in the minority here, but I am firmly of the belief that the fights over the public and party office vacancies in the 54^th AD might turn out to be much bigger than one Assembly seat and one District Leadership. It might very well the first shot in the revolution–or not; Ed Towns might very well just be making a play of some sort.

I think that might not have been Towns original intent, but like in “Duck Soup” I think someone’s just been called an “Upstart” and the road to war may now be irreversible.

A strong argument could be made if there were no Geraldine Ferraro, there would be no Hillary Clinton or Sara Palin.

Ferraro pretty much shattered the glass ceiling in politics and that's a huge understatement.

Ferraro in 1984 became the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.

As I’ve noted before, the fact that my house, practically on the shores of the Gowanus Canal, shares a councilman with Greenpoint is not, in and of itself, proof that the lines for Brooklyn City Council districts are preposterous.

Districts have to end somewhere and, even under the fairest of plans, some neighborhood is going to get split in a manner which will seem unfair to those so victimized.

That being said the lines are ridiculous.

As we all know, the figures are out and everyone with the software is free to draw their own fantasy reapportionment maps.

Me, I’d prefer to concentrate on realities, and my intent is to dwell upon them, no matter how unpleasant, as I embark upon an occasional series on the topic of Redistricting.

File this column under the category “Where The Hell Does Rock Get His Information”? I know that such a category exists because an erected (yes!) official told me so years ago. Truth be told, it is really the category called “Deny-ability”.

Though Bloomie had succeeded in banning tobacco in bars years ago, this was not going to stop Pablo Perroguía from trying to blow smoke up my ass during our trip to the Waterfront Alehouse.

Marty Golden's Pulp Fiction: "I'm not sayin' he was right, but you're sayin' a foot massage don't mean nothing, and I'm sayin' it does. I've given a million ladies a million foot massages and they all meant somethin'. We act like they don't, but they do. That's what's so fuckin' cool about 'em. This sensual thing's goin' on that nobody's talkin about, but you know it and she knows it," 

When I heard that New York City’s population did not rise as much as expected, my initial reaction is there must have been a large reduction in average household size. With the city becoming relatively more affluent, one might assume that fewer people were crammed into each housing unit. Or perhaps some of the roommates were not admitted to. With the large baby boom echo cohort moving out of childhood, however, I thought the share of housing units occupied by empty nesters might have risen.

But a quick look at average household size shows an increase from 2000 to 2010, reversing decades of decline. Which makes sense given that every generation is becoming worse off than the last, because of the last. Whereas the 1960s generation moved to apartments in Manhattan, my first NYC apartment in Kingsbridge, the Bronx was shared with three other people, one to a room. Now young people live four to a room. Nevermind.

Still no word from the State Senate's "Independent Democratic Conference" on Kevin Parker, despite my call for their action (which I KNOW they’ve seen).