Scott Stringer
Ray Kelly announces a measured reevaluation of stop-and-frisk
After a harsh rebuke from a federal judge who green-lit a class-action lawsuit against the New York Police Department over its stop-and-frisk tactics, police commissioner Ray Kelly said the program was being reevaluated, with more internal oversight and training. More
What did Bloomberg give Quinn today?
Mayor MIchael Bloomberg said today that he thought City Council Speaker Christine Quinn "would be a very good mayor."
It's not a formal endorsement, as the mayor was careful to point out, but it's also not a compliment he's uttered about any of the other mayoral candidates looking to replace him, as David Seifman noted. More
Allowing a suit, Judge Scheindlin criticizes the NYPD's 'cavalier attitude' to stop-and-frisk complaints
A federal judge's decision to grant class-action status to four black men who sued the New York Police Department after being stopped-and-frisked is being cheered by critics who say the department's behavior needs to be changed.
In a statement, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said Judge Shira Scheindlin's ruling today is "a wake up call" and the policy "cries out for immediate reform." More
Quinn skips an event for opponents of the NYPD's use of stop-and-frisk
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was the only mayoral candidate to skip a press conference criticizing the New York Police Department's heavy use of stop-and-frisk. At that same press conference, the leader of a powerful labor union warned that the candidates would be judged on their level of opposition to the police policy, which the union condemns. More
Bloomberg: With stop-and-frisk, as with a D.U.I. checkpoint, it's not who you catch
To Mayor Michael Bloomberg, stop and frisk is like a DUI checkpoint. More
Back behind Quinn with everyone else, Bill Thompson has room to surge
At first glance, today's Quinnipiac poll makes the 2013 mayoral campaign look like a two-tier race, with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in front and everyone else bunched up behind her.
Her nearest rival is former city comptroller Bill Thompson, who has 13 percent, followed by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio at 10 percent. More
Wolfson attacks de Blasio for wanting to curb stop-and-frisk, and Liu, who wants it 'abolished'
"Make no mistake, we will not continue to be the safest big city in America if Mr. de Blasio has his way," said Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, an old colleague of the Mr. de Blasio in question, who has proposed that the police department be investigated for its broad application of the stop-and-frisk tactic.
Wolfson also said, "Mr. de Blasio may be nostalgic for the days when the ACLU set crime policy in this city." More
Bill de Blasio has a plan to reduce stop-and-frisk 'dramatically'
On Sunday, Bill de Blasio said the New York Police Department was administering a "fatal dose" of stop-and-frisks.
This afternoon, de Blasio will be on the City Hall steps with other lawmakers to announce a plan his office says will "dramatically reduce" the use stop-and-frisk.
De Blasio previewed his plan in an interview with the Times; it entails, among other things, a demand that the mayor "request an internal audit by the Police Department of its statistics on what occurs after each stop-and-frisk episode." More
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As I hope some of you have noticed, I've been putting together a "Briefing" every weekday morning and afternoon on this site for a while now. It's my attempt to provide a useful roundup and analysis of political news that, as a New York-politics obsessive, I'm interested in anyway. The template is pretty straightforward: news analysis, picture, links. More
(1)De Blasio: NYPD administering a 'fatal dose' of stop-and-frisk
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said the New York Police Department's more than 700,000 recorded stop-and-frisks last year represent a "fatal" dose of an otherwise worthwhile crimefighting tactic. De Blasio made the comment Sunday in Queens after reading a quote from the former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton, who equated stop-and-frisks with chemo-therapy: "While too high a risk can be fatal, the right amount can save a person or a city's life." More
Stringer says he has 'no idea' where the comptroller rumor comes from
Stringer said "I've never talked to anybody associated with any other candidate about running for any other office."
He said had "no idea" why the comptroller rumors occasionally surfaced.
I asked if he ever told anyone he'd consider running for that office.
"To characterize a private conversation I may or may not have had is not something I'm thinking a lot about," he said. Then, he ticked off work he's done as Manhattan borough president which sounded mayoral and executive. Then, he added, "I am flattered when people say I would be good, perhaps at another job other than borough president. Some have said mayor, others have said other offices. So I take everything as a compliment."
I said his answer didn't sound quite Shermanesque.
"I'm just not giving in to that kind of give and take," he said. More
The surprising return of the three-borough 'X line' subway
The idea goes something like this.
There are, for the most part, existing freight tracks running from Bay Ridge up through Queens and across the Hell Gate Bridge into the Bronx. Freight traffic on those rails is light. And there is, theoretically, enough space alongside them to accommodate some form of commuter rail.
“It doesn’t have to be a subway type car,” said Zupan. “It could be somewhat smaller, but still operate as a train with multiple cars.” More
(12)Mayoral candidates denounce Walmart, one more strongly than the next
A negative report about the business practices of Walmart, combined with fierce opposition from organized labor to Walmart's longstanding attempts to open up an outlet in New York, have produced what amounts to a contest among Democratic candidates to denounce the corporation in the most memorable possible terms. More
Stringer, asked for an alternative to stop-and-frisk, answers
Martin Luther King III, the son of the slain civil rights leader, joined Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and several City Council members at a press conference outside City Hall denouncing the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactic, which they say unfairly targets minorities.
Faced with this contention in the past, police commissioner Ray Kelly has challenged critics to come up with an alternative means of keeping rates of violent crime in the city as low as they have been. More
Cuomo doesn't line up with city Democrats, or labor, on Walmart
Many New York elected officials have been opposed to Walmart opening a store in New York City long before Sunday's news that the company covered up a massive bribery scandal in Mexico.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has been considerably less shy about bucking some unions than most Democrats (and, in fact, Republicans) in New York, and who benefits from the support of a lobbying group that exists to act as a counterweight to organized labor, isn't one of them. More
