Crain’s Insider – Wednesday, June 8, 2011
June 8, 2011 Leave a comment
Today’s News Wednesday, June 08, 2011
MTA Seeks Loan Christie Rejected
The MTA is applying for a federal loan that New Jersey’s governor lost out on when he canceled the ARC tunnel. Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing is normally for freight railroads, but state officials hope the money can be put toward the MTA’s $10 billion capital plan. “We’re saying, ‘If you were going to give it to Chris Christie, why not give it to us?’ ” said a transportation insider. The RRIF loan, which could total as much as $3 billion, can be paid back over 35 years at interest equal to the government’s cost of borrowing.
DOT Losing PR Battle
The city, which has given itself until 2030 to reduce annual traffic fatalities by half, has introduced bike lanes, pedestrian islands and other traffic-calming measures. The number of traffic deaths reached a record low last year. But the embattled Department of Transportation is losing the public relations war because it has failed to “capture the imaginations” of New Yorkers, asserts a report to be released today by Transportation Alternatives and the Drum Major Institute. The report says the city should make zero fatalities its goal, as Sweden has. “The city has not done an adequate job of communicating,” said co-author John Petro. “Let’s stop the yelling about bike lanes and cars and focus on the safety angle.” A DOT spokesman said, “It’s hard to be clearer that nothing is more important than the safety of everyone on our streets.”
Fire-Trap Crackdown’s Effect on Tenants
Affordable-housing advocates had a mixed reaction to the city’s announcement yesterday that Fire Department officials would join buildings inspectors in responding to some complaints about illegally converted apartments, which is expected to increase orders to vacate. “We applaud the City Council and mayor’s attention to tenant safety,” said Dave Hanzel, policy director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. “Yet we are equally concerned about affordability and what happens when those tenants are vacated with nowhere else to go.”
Liz’s New PAC
State Sen. Liz Krueger kicks off her new No Bad Apples PAC tonight with a fundraiser from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the home of Jill and Barry Lafer. Tickets start at $500. RSVP to Jennie Berger at (646) 415-9021 or jennie@lizkrueger.com .
GOP’s calls for blood have ulterior motive
Republicans don’t want to wait until 2012 to go after Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat. GOP leaders have blasted the six-term congressman’s sexting shenanigans and have called on him to resign for ethical reasons.
What they haven’t mentioned is that their best hopes for snatching the seat from Democrats is the special election that his resignation would trigger.
A special election would give Republicans several advantages, insiders say. Such elections traditionally have low turnout, so in this case, those who turn out to vote would likely do so in order to protest Weiner’s lewd online exchanges with women. Sources also point out that Democrats lack a likely successor for the Queens congressman.
Republicans have started reaching out to prospective candidates. Insiders say Kings County Republican Chair Craig Eaton has been in touch with Bob Turner, the largely self-funded candidate who lost by 7 points to Weiner in 2010. “He’s a well-funded guy and a businessman,” said Vince Tabone, vice chairman of the Queens Republican Party. “He also has integrity, and no skeletons in his closet.”
Local Republicans hope the national party will get involved. “It all depends on whether or not we’re talking about a special election,” said Tabone. “In a general [election], with Obama on top of the ticket, I don’t know if the same calculus is at play.”
Another reason that Republicans can’t wait until 2012 is that Weiner’s district might not exist by then. Insiders are already envisioning how the 9th Congressional District could be sliced up to feed many political mouths.
Because the state will lose two seats in reapportionment, every district must grow. The predominantly Jewish portion of Weiner’s Queens constituency could go to Rep. Gary Ackerman. That shift would help Ackerman’s Long Island colleagues, whose districts must grow westward. Reps. Michael Grimm and Jerry Nadler could grow further in Brooklyn. And Rep. Joe Crowley stands to benefit by losing the Latino part of his district in the Bronx and picking up Weiner’s white, Catholic neighborhoods in Queens.
The result would be a new 9th District dominated by minorities, who would strengthen their hand in Washington.
At A Glance
MOVING ON: Louise Cohen, deputy commissioner for health care access and improvement at the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is leaving to join nonprofit Public Health Solutions in Manhattan. She will be vice president for public health programs.
bdemployees 