Albany

Dozens of families who risk losing their homes to foreclosure are expected to tell their stories at a Tuesday rally in Albany organized by ACORN.

On May 7, the New York State Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation to institute a year moratorium on home foreclosure--during which a court would determine an appropriate minimun payment for the owner--and provide additional protections for families with subprime loans. The State Senate has yet to move forward on the issue. Meanwhile, federal legislation to address the subprime crisis is stalled in Washington.

In 2007, there were over 51,000 foreclosure filings in New York State according to RealtyTrac. During the first quarter of this year, 14,000 homeowners in New York began foreclosure proceedings, nearly 50 percent of which occurred in Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island.  read more »

Here's what state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno's spokesperson Lisa Black just told me about Eliot Spitzer’s promise to barnstorm the state -- in every Senate district -- advocating campaign finance reform:

“He took his tour on the road during for the budget and look how well that worked for him. He needs to learn the art of compromise.”

New York's presidential primary will be on February 5.

New York's top judge threatened to sue state lawmakers for not giving judges a pay raise.

The city's health department will be stricter in the way it checks restaurants.

No one person can change everything in Albany, according to an analysis in the Times Union.

A student loan company under investigation by the AG paid graduate tuition and gave money directly to some student loan officers.

One of Mathieu Eugene's rivals in a City Council special election said he's ineligible to run.

Mike Bloomberg said the UFT is like the NRA.

Bloomberg added: "You're either with our children or against our children."

The Post editorial board wonders if "Eliot Spitzer been swallowed by the moral swamp that is Albany?"

And the Daily News editorial board likes Cuomo's investigation of the student loan industry.

-- Azi Paybarah

Danny Hakim looks at pork in the state budget.

Fixing the "unjust" school funding formula in Albany is "far from over," according to the Times editorial board.

Barack Obama's message man has advice for Hillary's: "A political message is different because people have a higher level of skepticism. You can get consumed by the art, but lose the argument."

Ian Bishop takes a look at how Barack Obama "raised his cash on the backs of longtime Clinton donors".

Ben wonders what that kind of coverage means for Hillary's relationship with Rupert Murdoch.

Mike Bloomberg will visit Ohio.

The Daily News editorial board wants Bill Thompson to explain how someone stole $3.6 million from a government account under his watch.

The state gave $112 million in tax breaks to companies near Albany, according to the Times Union.

The Daily News expands on the notion that Andrew Cuomo is doing well by keeping himself out of the picture.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky wants to be the new speaker, according to Jacob Gershman.

Don Imus said he's learned his lesson after insulting a female basketball team from Rutgers.

President Bush may have been warned about Bernie Kerik's checkered past before nominating him for a national security job.

And Fred Dicker points out another instance of Eliot Spitzer raising money in amounts larger than his self-imposed $10,000 limit.

-- Azi Paybarah

• No more gunfire across the bay for City Islanders.
[NY Times]
• Chumley's wall collapse sparks many happy memories.
[NY Times]
• Hey, apartment hunters, don't forget to ask about...
[NY Times]
• An author of lower Fifth finds 'the best place to be.'
[NY Times]
• Two West 56th Street townhouses closely linked.
[NY Times]
• More luxury housing overlooking Green-Wood Cemetery.
[NY Times]
• Mortgage products straining 'mathematical capacities.'
[NY Times]
• Co-op to condo conversion more trouble than its worth.
[NY Times]
• Security deposits--when can a new landlord demand one?
[NY Times]
• Can a co-op board member campaign for someone?
[NY Times]
• Housing slump hits state tax revenues nationwide.
[NY Times]
• Coffeeshop dusting off grit to please new East Village.
[NY Times]
• Hamptons papers to clash over real-estate advertising
[NY Times]
• Memories of the almost-2nd Avenue Subway.
[NY Times]
• City shutters Chumley's indefinitely, despite 'secure' building.
[NY Post]
• State rejects second Starrett City bid by Bistricer.
[NY Post]
• Battle looms in Albany over loft-tenants law.
[NY Post]
• Brokers push to land more foreign buyers.
[NY Post]
• Empire State Building owners sue parachuter for $12 M.
[Daily News]
• MTA to domolish buildings for 2nd Avenue Subway.
[Daily News] UPDATE:
• Face it: Jonathan Miller will appraise your apartment.
[New York]
• New York living as marketing tool nationwide.
[New York]

Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.

• 0 comments

Given all the recent talk of bringing change to Albany, Governor Eliot Spitzer’s humbling budg  read more »

Now that March Madness is over—by this I mean both the NCAA college-basketball tournament and  read more »

Eliot Spitzer's big budget compromise may have been a let-down for people who actually believed that Day One meant that everything was going to change.

But the officials who know Albany best weren't surprised at all.

Take Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who has been in the legislature for as long as I've been alive.

"He'll learn," Seminerio told me this week up in Albany.

"The only thing that ever changes in Albany are the faces," he said. "The system stays intact."

More on Seminerio's bracing realism here.

-- Azi Paybarah

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has the highest approval rating, 53-17 percent, of anybody in Albany, according to today's Quinnipiac poll of more than 1,500 state voters.

Eliot Spitzer's post-budget approval rating is 48-27 percent, down from 61-11 in February, the poll.

47 percent say "the steamroller tactic contributes to legislative gridlock," according to Quinnipiac.

Other approval ratings:

24-12 for Tom Dinapoli 30-30 for Sheldon Silver 27-34 for Joe Bruno 34-43 for the state legislature

-- Azi Paybarah

So here's a lively exchange from earlier today between Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco from a budget hearing in Albany.

Silver: "So, you support adding for education, you supporting adding for health, you support adding for tax cuts and you're complaining about how much we are [adding] -- I just don't understand the logic."

Tedisco: "Well, you had the same logic last week. Did your logic change this week? The governor made a call to you?"

Which is kind of funny, considering the infamous call Tedisco once got from the governor.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a blast from the past of Jerry Goldfeder, the election lawyer just hired by Andrew Cuomo's office as a special counsel on public integrity, who once aspired to go to Albany in a different capacity.

More of his nine-year-old campaign lit is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Homeless Families Surge    read more »

Homeless Families Surge    read more »

Saturday

10:50 a.m. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein speaks on a "Tough Choices or Tough Times" panel at Pier 92, Room 92C.  read more »

John McCain has a fund-raiser in New Hamsphire

Eliot Spitzer may have some noses out of joint in Albany.

But Michael Bloomberg, a businessman who learned to govern while in office, clearly seems to see Spitzer's robust style of bargaining with the legislative branch as a net positive.

During his radio show today, he said:

You have individual Assembly and Senate members who fight for their districts, that's what they're supposed to do. You know, they're hired to represent their districts by the people and then their voters will hold them responsible. But you need a strong executive at the top to lead the whole thing and I think that, you know, Eliot is going in the right direction.

-- Azi Paybarah

More budget pessimism in Albany...

Malcolm Smith, the Democratic Senate Minority Leader, didn't sound too optimistic about getting a state budget on time. During an interview he taped with Channel 4 today, airing Sunday, Smith said:

If we pass Monday, that's it, we're going to be in pretty bad shape and you're looking at a late budget. And then if the governor chooses just to go ahead and deal with essential services, you know, the other part of big government will shut down.

UPDATE: The full transcript from the show is here. . -- Azi Paybarah

It's nine days before the first budget of the Eliot Spitzer era is due in Albany, but some of the players seem to be preparing for a much longer haul.

"I believe that a budget on time is an important priority, but more important that being on time, is what's in the budget," said Assemblyman Vito Lopez of Brooklyn.

"I've very concerned about the health care cuts," he said. "And I'm very concerned about the housing budget."

He added, "I'm willing to stay weeks, or even a month or two, to meet the health care challenge as well as come up worth a more appropriate budget."

-- Azi Paybarah

Rudy Giuliani has modified his position on gun control.

Giuliani's current wife was married twice before, not once, as previously believed.

Bill Clinton helped raise $70,000 in Manhattan yesterday from people riding stationary bicycles.

Groups that get state funding will now have to disclose any associations they have with state lawmakers.

A shutdown of state government is possible if the budget is not on-time.

To persuade Albany to lift limits on scalpers, vendors are giving away tickets to lawmakers.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein wants a new process of investigating school bus misconduct.

And the head of the GOP in Yonkers was asked to leave his position by the mayor there.

-- Azi Paybarah

This doesn't bode well for an on-time budget.

At what was supposed to be a bipartisan, bicameral meeting in Albany just now to discuss the state budget, only Republicans showed up.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno said that his conference would work through the weekend with Democrats to reconcile differences in Medicaid spending, school aide and other budget issues.

If only everybody would come to the table.

One senator, Thomas Libous of the Southern tier said "the law is being broken," because Democrats weren't participating in the meeting.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco referred to it a "strike against openness and transparency."

Ten days until deadline.

-- Azi Paybarah

This doesn't bode well for an on-time budget in Albany.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco has the answer:

"There's a strike going on here at the capitol," he said at a Republican-led budget hearing right now in Albany that is being boycotted by Democrats like the governor, Assembly Speaker and others.

"Speaker Silver is on strike against openness and transparency," said Tedisco.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who is leading the meeting, said his conference was willing to work through the weekend to settle the budget.

In other budget news, the labor-backed Working Families Party is bucking the governor's proposals to reduce Medicaid spending.

-- Azi Paybarah

10 a.m. Sen. Hillary Clinton attends a HELP Committee Hearing into 9/11 health effects in Washington, D.C.

11:30 a.m. The state's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions will hold a public hearing on cable franchise agreements at the State Education Building, 80 Washington Avenue, in Albany.  read more »

When Christine Quinn delivered her State of the City speech, she referred to proposed health care spending cuts from Albany and Washington as "misguided." Recently, she and the City Council met with Eliot Spitzer, the guy who proposed the cuts from Albany.

So, I asked if she stood by that characterization. She said she did and has requested more information from Sptizer about the proposal. "Until we get more of that information, I stand by the position of having a tremendous level of concern about these cuts."

You can listen to her full answer -- which doesn't include the word "misguided"-- is here.

-- Azi Paybarah

10 a.m. Quinnipiac University will release the results of a recent poll asking Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania voters about candidates for the 2008 presidential race.

10 a.m. Children bake matzas for U.S. troops serving abroad at the Jewish Children's Museum, 792 Eastern Parkway, in Brooklyn.  read more »

10:30 a.m. Melanie Bloom and ESPN sportscaster Bonnie Bernstein launch a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) awareness campaign at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, 525 East 68th Street at York Avenue.

Eliot Spitzer just signed an executive order barring people convicted of terrorism, murder, child molestation and other offenses from participating in temporary work release programs.

In case you thought the governor was getting soft after a few weeks in Albany.

A copy of the executive order is here [pdf].

-- Azi Paybarah

Eliot Spitzer spoke softly.    read more »

      Eliot Spitzer spoke softly.    read more »

A well-placed source who attended a meeting of 1199/SEIU delegates in midtown yesterday passed on this quote from Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion:

"We support this Governor who we helped put into office. We understand and appreciate that he is a reformer. He is working to open up Albany to the people. He is investing in education--making sure every child has the same opportunities. We believe in this governor, and we understand that he has a great vision for this state and we stand behind him but when it comes to health care we know that the Governor is wrong. We must not go backwards in the name of reform or to save money at the cost of good quality health care....."

-- Azi Paybarah

Tom DiNapoli signed his own executive orders.

Five of Eliot Spitzer's appointees were confirmed.

Assemblyman Joe Lentol of Brooklyn got $11.2 million in funding from Albany.

Chuck Schumer said he worked well with Rudy Giuliani.

Congress will be lobbied about making Puerto Rico a state.

ReformNY draws parallels between the Oscars and the state's political process.

A majority of scholars surveyed by Foreign Policy magazine think the Iraq War will make the US less safe. John Edwards drew some tough questions from Inside Edition, proving he's in the top tier of 2008 candidates.

The guy claiming to be the original owner of EliotSpitzer.com said he registered the site "with Eliot's interests in mind."

And pictured above is a row of parked cars in Albany.

-- Azi Paybarah

The governor's proposed budget would cost New York City up to $20 million in pre-kindergarten funding and the city would "struggle" to use other funds it will receive, according to a prepared copy of Joel Klein's testimony up in Albany.

"We certainly support this move and welcome the increase of $63 million slated for New York City. Our preliminary analysis of the budget, however, indicates that we would actually have a reduction in per student funding from $3,300 to approximately $3,172. This might seem small, but considering the actual cost of $4,400 per student for a half-day program, this could add up to a $20 million increase in our expenditures for PreK. This plan would also not provide any additional full day slots for the children and families who desperately need full-day programs.

[skip]

It's sad that the State insists that we spend PreK money on half-day programs when we know the families of new York City demand full-day programs. There is so little demand for half-day programs that we sill struggle to actually use the money you are allocating to preK."

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein working away on his blackberry while he waits to testify about school aid in Albany.

The audience might be thinning out by the time he speaks: apparently there's a noon get-together for some Senators at the Fort Orange Club, where visiting City Council members already attended a legislative breakfast this morning.

-- Azi Paybarah

I'm in Albany today for what is affectionately known around here as Tin Cup Tuesday, where various interest groups come to ask the legislature for money. This week's tin cup shakers include members of the New York City Council.

Here's one elected official waiting to get into the fancy Fort Orange Club, one of the most popular fund-raising venues in Albany.

-- Azi Paybarah

According to one of Eliot Spitzer’s major contributors, the success of the Governor’s re  read more »

Larry Silverstein, Tom Elghanayan, Jeff Levine, William Dickey and Steve Witkoff are staring a new monster in the face: the end of cheap financing that was supposed to help them settle Manhattan's wild West Side.

These five real estate developers thought they had it made last year when the state Housing Finance Agency approved their applications for tax-exempt bonds. But the incoming Spitzer administration noticed something funny: the rental boom was eating up all of the state's available bond volume. So, the administration froze the financing.  read more »

Counting several other projects at earlier stages of the approval process, the HFA has $4.8 billion worth of applications for tax-exempt bonds pending; it only expects to be able to dole out $590 million this year.

Maloney, Lappin, Garodnick, Bing... Stringer!

Another uptown Democrat endorses Micah Kellner for Assembly. The release is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Eliot Spitzer's plan to flip control of the Republican-led state Senate to the Democrats, who would then help push though his reform agenda, is part of a much wider goal than reforming Albany, according to one of his contributors, and major Democratic fund-raiser, Doug Dunham,

"I can certainly see him being a really viable contender for president if he's able to get all these reforms through," said Dunham,, counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

"Certainly reforming Albany was significant for prior presidents from New York; for Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, before that, Grover Cleveland. They were all reform-minded governors who occasionally had to be a little tough but did get reform packages through the state legislature. Wasn't always the easiest thing to do but they succeeded eventually and that laid the ground work for giving them national reputations as reformers, setting them up for a presidential run."

In 2004, Dunham co-chaired the Committee of New York Lawyers for Kerry-Edwards which reportedly raised at least $7.5 million.

By 2005, when Spitzer's campaign was kicking into high gear, so was Dunham's local contributions. According to state Board of Elections records, Dunham gave thousands of dollars for both Eliot Spitzer and his running mate, David Paterson. After the landslide victory in November, Spitzer's campaign continued, focusing on the state Senate. As did Dunham's contributing.

"I'm going to be working towards a fund-raising event in late spring," Dunham told me in a telephone interview Monday. The purpose is to "raise money for winning back a senate Democratic majority in 08."

-- Azi Paybarah

If you believe Eliot Spitzer, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz of Brooklyn is part of what’s wrong with  read more »

Saturday

9:30 a.m. Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan is honored by the Whitestone Republican Club with its"Hero of Justice" award at 167-17 Northern Boulevard, Queens.

11 a.m. Health care advocates protest budget cuts to AIDS support services at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Noon. The NYC Bar Association provides free help to people applying for US citizenship at 110-04 Atlantic Avenue, Queens.

12:30 p.m. Latin-American and Korean groups host a forum on the "devastating impact" of free trade agreements at 35-59 81st Street, Queens.

12:30 p.m. State Senator Malcolm Smith hosts a workshop on Minority and Women Owned-Business Enterprises at the Black, Puerto Rican & Hispanic Legislative Caucus in Albany.

1 p.m. Anti-war activists march to the offices of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chuck Schumer demanding they cut troop funding at 42nd Street and Broadway.

7:30 p.m. World Can't Wait holds a Bush impeachment summit at 165 West 86th Street.

Sunday

11:30 a.m. Rep. Charlie Rangel delivers the keynote speech at "Celebrating Our Heritage" Inspirational Service at Williams Institutional Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Manhattan.

3 p.m. Rep Charlie Rangel speaks at the Iraq War Town Hall organized by United for Peace and Justice at the North Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

7 p.m. Eliot Spitzer delivers remarks at the Black, Puerto Rican & Hispanic Legislative Caucus dinner in Albany.

Monday

9 a.m.Qunnipiac University Polling Institute releases results of a poll of Connecticut voters and their opinions about 2008 candidates.

10 a.m. WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer hosts the candidates running in the special election for the City Council seat in Brooklyn.

1 p.m. New York Coalition to Expand Voting Rights calls for allowing legal residents who are non--citizens to vote in municipal elections under some circumstances inside City Hall,

-- Azi Paybarah

The Black and Puerto Rican Legislators Annual Conference in Albany is getting started a little later tonight with an exclusive Chairman's Reception, and the list of attendees will be worth keeping an eye on.

Bill Clinton is expected to be there, and en route right now are City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion.

The official schedule for Eliot Spitzer office isn't out yet, although he is expected to attend.

Spitzer has cancelled a couple of get-togethers with legislators since that whole comptroller thing. And Errol Louis notes a potential cause for tension between him and this particular group of lawmakers: they supported white male legislator for comptroller over a black woman who was among the candidates backed by Spitzer.

-- Azi Paybarah

Going by Christine Quinn's speech today, she's leaning more towards the Eliot Spitzer line on health care hospital closings. than that of SEIU/1199.

She proposed creating ten new health facilities in under-served communities, but also said the following:

"There are simply too many hospital beds in New York City."

Update: In the speech, Quinn did indicate she'll oppose Spitzer's health care cut backs.

"There are too many neighborhoods, especially in low-income and isolated areas, where you can't find a primary care doctor or a full service clinic anywhere. And it's those neighborhoods that will be most hurt by the misguided healthcare cuts being proposed in Washington and in Albany."

Further Update: As someone pointed out to me, 1199 eventually came around to support the Berger Commission findings. -- Azi Paybarah

Here is Joe Bruno delivering flowers to Eliot Spitzer today in Albany.

-- Azi Paybarah

In this week's (stunningly attractive!) redesigned Observer, I wrote about a plan from the Spitzer people to panic Republicans Senators into defecting to the Democrats.

The idea would be not only to install a friendly majority in the Senate but to diminish the influence of Sheldon Silver, who has emerged as Spitzer's Moriarty-type nemesis in Albany.

According to a senior administration official, the contrast between the Senate Dems and the Assembly Dems would "make clear that there is a reform wing of the Democratic Party and a status quo wing of the party a reform wing of the Democratic Party and a status quo wing of the party."

Also in the paper, Felix Ortiz criticizes the establishment.

And Adolfo Carrion looks at the 2009 mayoral field and laughs.

-- Azi Paybarah

Eliot Spitzer's plan may be working, with some legislators feeling a "rare backlash" because they voted for Tom DiNapoli for comptroller.

While visiting a family just outside Albany, Spitzer did not attack the local Assembly member.

Mike Bloomberg wants the federal government to steer $150 million a year to NYC for health costs related to the September 11th attacks.

The school bus fiasco was debated at the City Council.

The MTA can't afford the No. 7 expansion.

Ceasar Borja responded to a NYT story casting doubt on his late father's work at Ground Zero, asking, "Why are they attacking my father's honor?"

Mario Cuomo said winning the White House will not be based on ideas and solving problems, but rather, "money and charisma and mistakes and bull---t."

Hillary Clinton snagged a key African-American supporter in South Carolina.

Will Hillary be the Ed Muskie of 2008?

Giuiliani hunted for the agriculture vote, and promised to get a farm adviser.

To prevent health care cuts, unions won't use the same tactics against Eliot Spitzer that they used against his predecessor.

The state comptroller received a letter with white powder and "a death threat."

The most aggressive online presidential campaigner is John Edwards [subscription].

-- Azi Paybarah

A reader passed on a notably early campaign announcement for 2008 state Senate candidate Tony Herbert, whose candidacy officially gets underway with a glitzy fund-raiser next month at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club.

Herbert's candidacy marks not just one of the first local 2008 campaign kick-offs I know of, but -- after his recent, unsuccessful run against City Council member Tish James as a Republican -- it represents a return to his roots as a Democrat. Sort of.

From an email to potential supporters:

"For decades, our community has blindly voted for any candidate based on party affiliation. This has led to our community being ignored by the same elected officials we voted into office. As long as we don't make our elected officials EARN our vote, we can't expect them to respect our needs in return! "

Herbert's letter (dated Feb. 15, for some reason) is after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Upward-aspiring Democrats in Manhattan have long had to navigate between rank-and-file party loyalists and good-government reformers.

The candidates running for the East Side Assembly seat being vacated by Pete Grannis were given a chance over the weekend to express their theoretical willingness to go against the party leadership in Albany by revealing which comptroller candidate they would have voted for if they were already in the Assembly.

At a closed-press event for Democratic leaders and candidates this Sunday, three Democratic candidates came up with three different answers, according to someone who was there.

Barry Klein, chief of staff to Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, said that he, like his boss, would have voted for the winner, Tom DiNapoli.

Susan Chamlin, an aide to Senator Liz Krueger, said that she, like her boss, would have voted for Martha Stark.

And Micah Kellner, an aide to NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, said he thought that his boss would have been perfect for the job, but that he would have voted, if given the opportunity, for Howard Weitzman.

Remember, the Democratic nomination is voted on by county committee members (regular Democrats) but in Manhattan, everybody loves a reformer. So we may not have heard the end of this.

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