12:01 am Jan. 5, 2012
Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to invigorate New York's economy with revenue he expects the state to raise, and jobs he expects to create, from legalizing table gambling. This new stream of money would help pay for health care and education-spending increases he's promising, while also keeping his promise not to impose any new taxes or fees.
The New York Times is skeptical about the payoffs of legalized gambling, especially the part about it creating good-paying jobs. WNYC's Brian Lehrer struck a similar tone while appearing on NY1, alluding to the social costs these kind of operations usually have on their immediate neighbors.
"Walk within a few blocks of any Atlantic City casino or any Las Vegas casino and I think that you will see that it is not Shangri La," Lehrer said.
Some links:
2012:
"Obama’s speech at Shaker Heights High School was peppered with populist rhetoric, yet another signal of the emerging theme of his re-election campaign." [Thomas DeFrank]
2013:
Newspaper publisher and mayoral candidate Tom Allon is out with a "fierce new campaign ad" asking "Did Chris Quinn Bet Your Life to Become Mayor?" [nyc-mayor-2013.blogspot]
The ad appeared in the West View News and is part of Allon's increasingly caustic assault on the establishment candidate, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. [David Freedlander]
State of the State:
Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to build the country's largest convention center in Queens. [Associated Press]
An agreement has already been signed. [Ken Lovett]
Cuomo's plan to replace the Javits center with residential and commercial space would reshape Manhattan's West Side. [Jill Colvin]
A progressive editorial board likes Cuomo's talk about campaign reform, but fear he's relying too heavily on gambling to fill the state's coffers. [New York Times]
Brian Lehrer is also wary of Cuomo's gambling agenda, but said, sympathetically, that Cuomo "is trying to be the progressive for fiscally hard times." [NY1]
Cuomo's address "did not contain further ideas of the kind that would spur dinner table conversation." [Thomas Kaplan]
Other states who relied on money from convention centers and gambling failed, warns a fiscal watchdog. [Nicole Gelinas]
Cuomo didn't give Obama "any credit" for the federal health care legislation, and is cutting the legislature some slack. [Fred Dicker]
"State Senator Marty Golden, possibly the most influential New York City Republican in the state legislature," was "disappointed" by the speech. [Colin Campbell]
"Coming off a freshman year filled with high-profile success, Cuomo outlined a game plan featuring more modest political goals." [Yancey Roy]
"Last year worked so well by New York standards that the populace probably presumes the governor will be able to pull it off again this year - deliver a budget that looks serious and reformist, yet carries no major pain for any of the state's powerful interest groups." [Dan Collins]
Jobs:
Cuomo's pledge to spend $1 billion in Buffalo makes the mayor of Rochester jealous. [Joseph Spector]
"[Cuomo's] prescription for managing the rising costs of public-employee pensions did not venture far from the policies favored by governors before him." [Jacob Gershman]
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker notices Cuomo and other governors are trying to cut pension costs. [Dean Pagani]
Food Stamps:
Cuomo was "siding" with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in lifting the ban on fingerprinting food stamp applicants. [@AziPaybarah]
It's another instance of Cuomo's agenda running counter to Bloomberg's. [Glenn Blain]
Education:
Cuomo positions himself as the "lobbyist for the students." [Anna Phillips]
Cuomo's new education commission may include people from outside New York. [Geoff Decker]
"His comments inflamed many of those in education…" [Katie Gibas]
"Local school officials said Wednesday they felt vilified" by Cuomo's speech. [George Basler]
"The [teacher-evaluation] process has been complicated and slow, largely because all school districts have to reach agreements with local teachers unions on the evaluations." [Cara Matthews]
The book accompanying Cuomo's speech didn't mention the word "transit," although he did talk about rebuilding bridges and roadways. [Andrea Bernstein]
Fracking:
A conservative editorial page that is often sympathetic to Cuomo finds it "worrisome" Cuomo didn't mention fracking, an "almost overnight job-creation plan." [New York Post]
"Leaders in Tompkins County were commenting more on what wasn't in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address Wednesday than what was in it." [Liz Lawyer and Rachel Stern]
Cuomo didn't mention fracking in his speech, which may or not mean, mean something. [Steve Reilly]
Redistricting:
The Republican plan to add a 63rd State Senate seat is opposed by Citizen Union and Senate Democrats. [Yancey Roy]
City Council:
"In Mr. Seabrook’s case, Ms. Quinn said, none of what has been alleged 'could have happened under the system we now have.'" [Kate Taylor]
City Council member Margaret Chin wants more diversity training for the defense department, in light of the death of Pvt. Danny Chen. [Reuven Blau]
City Hall:
The city forced the resignation of a top official at the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, in order for it to keep getting city funds. [David Seifman]
Crime:
The Manhattan D.A. is not seeking the mandatory minimum 3 1/2 years in jail for a Maryland man who brought his legally registered gun with him across state lines and into Midtown. [Laura Italiano]
Assemblyman William Boyland and his chief of staff plead not guilty to corruption. [John Marzulli]
Boyland will keep legislating, despite his indictment. [Mitchel Maddux]
A bus transporting prisoners flipped over on the state thruway. [Jose Martinez]
Media:
A former Daily News columnist said replacing Kevin Convey as editor in chief with a former Murdoch editor Colin Myler is "stunning. And probably a mistake." [@ErrolLouis]
