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Just for the Record

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Six of the eight largest snowstorms in NYC history have taken place in the past 15 years. Three of the top eight have taken place in the past 12 months. Two of the top eight have taken place in the past month. And last summer was the hottest in NYC history.

Pehaps the guy who suggested that I stop kvetching about the financial damage to public services, benefits and the infrastructure caused by Generation Greed — because global warming and rising oil prices will make it seem like a walk in the park — has a point.

How Diane Savino Broke My Heart

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On Tuesday, I had lunch with a consultant, who I’ll call Wiseman, and yes, he’s actually a composite, but all dialogue is guaranteed verbatim.

Lunch was pretty uneventful til we got to the topic of the State Senate Dems.

WISEMAN: Everyone wanted them to lose, and when I say everyone, I mean every one. Except for the Senate Dems themselves, and even a few of them.

Generation Greed Looks At the State Budget

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A recent poll shows New Yorker are against all spending cuts and tax increases. These traditional telephone polls, in my view, are probably skewing older — toward Generation Greed, the one that ran up the debts and promised itself benefits for seniors it refused to pay for.

The only budget cut New Yorkers favor, according to the poll? Lower wages (but not retirement benefits) for state (lot local government or non-profiteer) workers. Of which there are relatively few, and which have absorbed a substantial share of the cuts already. The state has a $9 billion budget deficit I read, although that is likely an underestimate. According to employment and wages data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, state workers earned a total of $12.3 billion in 2009, down slightly from the year before. That is actually down, not a diminished pace of growth.

Educating Mr. Wolfson

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The latest edition of City Hall News has a front page article about Mayor Bloomberg being criticized over Cathy Black, the Citytime scandal & the snow.

http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1737-weathering-the-storm.html

Pushing back against the idea that Mike is being criticized more now than in his first two terms is Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson:

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