If you live in NYC, unless you are an election inspector and have to spend 15 hours at a polling place, or you are a public employee who has Election Day off in their contract, you probably don’t know there’s election this coming Tuesday.

And you have little reason to care.

The Huffington Post reports on the deal between Cooper Union and the St. Mark’s Bookstore to keep the store open.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/st-marks-bookshop-reaches_n_1074199.html

While the story is played as feel good story, I don’t agree.

According to the New York Times, police corruption is rising. "One former Internal Affairs Bureau investigator who was involved in scores of cases in recent years said the number of corruption complaints — ‘logs in police parlance — had been on the rise, climbing to about 65,000 a year from about 45,000 a year in a little under a decade." Why is that?

A little rumor I heard third hand. The soaring number of criminal cops dates from the era when police starting pay was slashed to $25,000 per year. To pay for all the retroactive pension enrichments around the year 2000, which have caused pension spending to soar toward equality with payroll for cops actually on the job. Now we are paying hugely for each police officer, but most of the money is going to the retired. And the police on the job increasingly resent their pay — no matter how much they cost. Take the two together and it isn’t the police who are getting ripped off, at least collectively. Those who pay for them are.

GATEMOUTH: Occupy-ers plan to disrupt Iowa caucuses? Is Occupy’s new slogan "We gotta save the world from democracy"?

According to the New York Times, “New York City will pay the federal government $70 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the city of overbilling Medicaid by improperly approving home care for frail and elderly clients.” The care in question was personal care, “which could include housecleaning, dressing, bathing and shopping and could cost $75,000 to $150,000 a year.” Actually, it only costs that much when provided in New York City. Which is why the last time I checked, New York State accounted for a huge share of U.S. Medicaid spending on “personal care.” Many states do not even offer personal care as part of their Medicaid program.

Of course “New York City will pay” is not an accurate description of what will happen. The people who live in New York City, and will live in New York City in the future, will pay. They will have their services cut further. They will have their taxes increased further. All to pay for the federal share of underserved services for seniors, with the city’s share having been paid already. Who should the sacrifices be targeted to? Social services for children? Public schools? Should we accept fewer police officers? Stop repainting the Brooklyn Bridge? Raise the property tax? I’d like to see the New York City Council have a debate and identify specifically who will be made worse off to pay this $70 million. As a clue to who is being and will be made worse off the pay for $billions Generation Greed has made off with, leaving debts and unfunded pension obligations behind.

If Room Eight is really “New York’s Best Inside-Baseball Scorecard,” how come no one here noticed this item from the 10/18/11 Village Voice until 10/31?

I’m amazed at the over-reaction, in some quarters, to Occupy Wall Street. A bunch of young adults who have nothing better to do, thanks to the lousy economy engineered by those older, sit around in a park and beat on some bongo drums, and suddenly the world is coming to an end. I get the feeling certain people and media outlets are outraged they aren’t doing anything that would allow them to be arrested and thrown in jail. The reason, I believe, is that Occupy Wall Street is undoing the carefully engineered amnesia about the events of and leading up to the financial crisis of 2008, followed by a mass attempt to deflect blame elsewhere and gut any new financial regulation. But there is a way for Occupy Wall Street to really, really terrify the top one percent.

Chanting “End Capitalism” isn’t going to get it done, because once alternatives are considered not only would most Americans prefer the free market alternative, but probably most of those in Occupy Wall Street would as well. Given who controls our federal and state governments, would they really want to give those governments even more power and control over their lives? To decide where they could shop, what they could buy, what would be charged, where they would work and what those working in different fields would be paid – presumably based on campaign contributions and connections with powerful lobbyists? Would they really want to have no alternative to “Too Big to Fail” state-connected organizations, and no possibility of them being challenged by new, competing organizations? No. But there is a very capitalist chant that would have the top one percent recoiling in terror and sputtering with rage. That chant is…“Cut Executive Pay In Half and Increase Dividends.”

To my surprise, a local black activist of the “progressive” school has reacted with much disdain for my inclination to support Hakeem Jeffries for Congress against Ed Towns.

When I first heard the Chelsea for Congress story, my response was “this reeks of bullshit,” as Nita Lowey does not appear to be retiring, though perhaps there are some who'd like to push her out.

Back in the summer of 2003, freshman NYC council member James Davis was shot to death in the NYC council chambers at City Hall; mere moments before a stated meeting of the council was called to order.  The most poignant memory of that terrible event was probably that of a distraught Geoffrey Davis (James’s younger brother) continuously sobbing:”they assassinated my brother; they assassinated my brother”. Television-news coverage showed the palpable grief. The pain was real. James and his younger brother Geoffrey were real close. James was Geoffrey’s first hero.