London in New York

TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE:  Bribery & Fraud Scheme Is Emblematic of the Proliferation of Corruption Under Christine Quinn’s Leadership of the NYC Council & Quinnberg’s Three Terms at City Hall

Suzannah B. Troy Protests Christine Quinn

“The arrests this morning point to a culture of corruption that permeates our city and state — corruption fueled by career politicians who put personal advancement before public service,”

- John Catsimatidis, Republican Candidate for Mayor

John Catsimatidis may be right when he points to the ‘Culture of Corruption’ being responsible for the latest bribery and fraud scandal involving the effort of Senator Malcolm Smith to get on the ballot in Queens and the Bronx in the 2013 Mayor’s election. The scandal may seem on the surface to have ensnared mostly Republicans, including a political operator  with ties to the Greek American super market magnate and philanthropist,  almost making ‘Slush Fund Queen’ and ‘Crony Capitalist’ enabler Boss Quinn, the woman who has full time white collar criminal counsel seem clean in comparison. But New Yorker’s actually paying attention know better.

For one, those who know ‘Cats’ know a man who is a true New Yorker, one that is warm, generous as well as a man who made it here from humble roots and who in earnest is running to try to lead New York City.  Catsimatidis is not a corrupt, malicious or bullying man. He has and continues to support thoughtful leaders on both sides of the aisle. And whether you agree with his vision or not or have another horse in the 2013 Mayor’s race,  his vision for the future of New York City is more inclusive than exclusive and more principally thought out than Quinn’s platitudes on the campaign trail which show a rather unsophisticated understanding of how to create economic growth and prosperity for a wider segment of the population throughout the city, including the Outer Boroughs.  QUINN IS NOT FOR QUEENS:  or the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island or even Upper Manhattan.   Quinn’s  policies  [See: The Brooklyn Rail: The Quinning Strategy] seem to have a root in the politics of self enrichment or crony capitalism [where the singular purpose is to 'git r done' for her sponsors] more than they do in sound economic theory and actual capitalism; and/or in the belief that it actually leads society to the same place. It does not. Quinn’s crony capitalism undermines the fabric of society and confidence of the general public in their business and political leaders for the wheels of capitalism to run through one politico’s sticky fingers.

There is simply no getting around the fact is that these emerging scandals and investigations, can and ultimately should be tied back to and reflect more on the character and fitness for office of  Speaker Quinn, who is far from detached from the existing political reality in New York City, than it should John Catsimatidis who was likely simply duped by an associate.   Christine Quinn is in the eyes of many observers, the embodiment of the culture of political corruption in New York City and thus very much the source of inspiration for the sea of corruption that has sprouted under her leadership as Speaker of the New York City Council. As a Registered Democrat I can better vouch for the character and integrity of the Republican John Catsimatidis than I can the Democrat, Christine Quinn.  It really is that simple.

THE QUINNBERG POLITICAL MACHINE has been in control of City Hall and the NY City Council for 12 years, not content with that legacy they are reaching for control of the next 12 years. This scandal is but a swamp in a sea of political corruption inspired by and during Boss Quinn’s corrupt reign of the New York City Council. THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION has been seeded and fueled by the persistent overreaching of Bloomberg and Quinn over the last 12 years and especially the last 5. They are now focused on effectively blocking and taking out any would be challengers to their rule over New York City. Bloomberg’s Billionaire pals want and prefer an autocratic leader like CHRISTINE QUINN for her ability to BULLY people, including Democrats and those who express dissent into corners, even if it means skirting the law. For example, Bill Thompson is not autocratic but rather a consensus builder and Bill De Blasio and John Liu are likewise thoughtful reasonable men who are not hostile to democratic principles of governance. BUT, the crony capitalists behind QUINNBERG want a BOSS or BULLY and QUINN, the self proclaimed ‘pushy broad’ is eager to suppress democracy to “get things done” for her sponsors.

From the Defeat Christine Quinn Facebook page:

“Quinn’s former “legislative researcher” was arrested this morning for taking bribes. Three of Quinn’s Council Members have been imprisoned, and another, Dan Halloran [See, NY Times: "Daniel J. Halloran III, a Queens councilman, boasting that he could extract tens of thousands of dollars from the City Council to be used as a bribe."], was arrested yesterday. And, even though Quinn’s “office” assigned millions in the Council budget to fake charities, which Quinn used as a slush fund, she has not been indicted and imprisoned with the others. Why is she being protected? Did Bloomberg call off the Department of Investigation’s probe [of Quinn] after Quinn overturned term limits?”

and pegging Boss Quinn to the core of corruption:

“Quinn shares blame for a system that all but begs pols to go rotten — namely, the “member item” game, which lets council members dole out public funds (i.e., pork) at their discretion. . . Member items are inherently corrupt. They let pols buy loyalty and votes. They also tempt them to steer taxpayer money to themselves and folks of their choosing. . . Quinn herself saw fit to grant Bronx Democrat Larry Seabrook $350,000 in pork, even as he faced federal charges of funneling it to phony groups he controlled.”

According to the New York Times:

“At issue is Ms. Quinn’s oversight of a pot of Council funds, worth nearly $400 million in 2012, that she doles out to lawmakers each year, to use largely at their own discretion to finance programs in their districts. The system has provided the speaker with leverage to reward and punish lawmakers as she sees fit; she chooses how much money each lawmaker gets to allocate. But at one period during her tenure, in 2008, misuse of the funds led to a federal investigation and the arrests of several council Members and aides.

The earmarks, often referred to as member items, have been criticized by civic groups, and Mr. Halloran’s suggestion that he could exploit the system was quickly seized on by Ms. Quinn’s opponents.

“This has reached an unsustainable point,”Bill de Blasio, the public advocate and a Democratic mayoral candidate, said at a news conference where he called for the earmarks to be eliminated. “The system is broken beyond the ability of small reforms to fix it.”

“These things happened on her watch,” Mr. de Blasio added

Feigning shock and dismay, deeply corrupt City Council Speaker and 2013 Candidate for Mayor stated:

“These allegations represent a reprehensible abuse of the public’s trust,” City Council Speaker and Democratic mayoral candidate Christine Quinn said in a statement. “If true, then the full weight of the legal system should be brought to bear on all parties implicated.”

Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s attempted defense of Quinn at this late hour is simply not enough. As posited on the Defeat Christine Quinn Campaign Facebook page:

“After trying for months to distance from Quinn because their close relationship could hurt her in the Democratic primary, Bloomberg publicly describes her as “a person of enormous integrity.” Taking a leaf out of Quinn’s book, Bloomberg is trying to have it both ways. If and when Quinn is indicted for corruption, will Bloomberg rescind the many public comments he has made about Quinn’s “honesty” and “integrity?” -

As stated further in the Perdido Street School blog:

“I don’t see how the billionaire mayor with the questionable integrity and his billion dollar slush fund/PAC coming in to defend the City Council speaker with the questionable integrity and the slush fund helps Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary.

Doesn’t it just remind people of how scummy Quinn has been with the slush fund and how scummy Quinn has been in overturning term limits?”

WHO THE FBI MAY HAVE MISSED IN THEIR POLITICAL STING OPERATION IN QUEENS: BILL RUDIN & CHRISTINE QUINN

CRONY CAPITALISM = INSURANCE AGAINST FREE MARKET FORCES PROVIDED BY POLITICIANS (Christine Quinn) WHO PROVIDE FAVORS FOR MONEY TO SELECT PEOPLE (Bill Rudin) TO INSURE ONE BUSINESS MAN’S SUCCESS (Bill Rudin) OVER HIS WOULD BE COMPETITORS (Other NY Real Estate Families)

There is a very real perception that a man who is a special friend of the outgoing Bloomberg Administration is working behind the scenes to install the next administration at City Hall. The man working to install the Slush Fund Queen as the next Mayor of New York City may just be either one of the most coincidentally fortunate men, a highly effective lobbyist, developer and philanthropist or in the alternative one of the most corrupt men in city politics; or perhaps even all of the above. So who is Bill Rudin? And are he and his family guilty of ‘influence peddling’?

Questions to consider:

• Is “influence peddler” – Bill Rudin the Jack Abramoff of Democratic City Politics?
• Has NYC replaced Chicago as the most corrupt city in America?  FBI investigation definitely leads us to think so.
• Do NYC Democrats Understand the risk of the Appearance of Criminal Impropriety of the Rudin/Quinn Alliance? : Do Democrats know and understand that the Rudin/Quinn alliance of rigged schemes and blatant pay 4 play city politics creates the appearance of corruption that causes an erosion of the public trust and in the end may cause the collapse of the local Democratic Party?
• Have we ever elected a Mayor who had full time white collar criminal counsel from their activities in one office while running for higher office?

Bill Rudin is the leader of the Rudin Real Estate dynasty. He also leads a non-profit front organization called – Association For A Better New York,  ”a coalition of business, labor, non-profit and political leaders focused on exploring and implementing ideas that keep the city moving forward” and otherwise “dedicated to the constant growth and renewal of New York City’s people, businesses and communities” – according to the organization’s website.  Given its activities in recent years ABNY under Rudin has blurred the lines between advancing the interests of Bill Rudin and the Rudin Real Estate Family, its member organizations and that of all New Yorkers. How does your influence peddling advance the interests of New York City if your creative alliance with select politicians you are able to create or solidify business opportunities for your eroding empire? It does not. All it does is to thereby create the impression, in the wider public, of your simply being a beneficiary of some rigged schemes that fortify your clan’s financial fortunes at a time when the bottom is falling out for many of your fellow citizens. This is not capitalism, nor is it the purpose of non-profit organizations but instead it reeks of Crony Capitalism, which in effect undermines confidence in the system as a whole.

Witness the courage of artist, citizen and activist Suzannah B. Troy who confronted Bill Rudin about his St. Vincent’s Condos:

One must examine the ethics and morality behind those who  targeted, collapsed and ultimately gutted (including the willful destruction of St. Vincent’s Hospital Chapel) St. Vincent’s Hospital, to feed the interests of one man’s Real Estate Empire in the face of widespread community opposition, and with the assistance of certain societal elites and politicians who turned a blind eye towards the community. In its hour of need, this man gained inside access to St. Vincent’s Hospital posing as a friend and business savior who would build a new mixed use residential/medical facility modernizing the hospital to make it more efficient and profitable while building a revenue generating luxury residential component on the property.

Simultaneously, however, through the creative use of PR, this same man and forces aligned with him waged a war against the character, integrity and continued necessity of  St. Vincent’s Hospital which led to its total collapse. Once collapsed,  through his cronies on local zoning board, Rudin was able to get a waiver so that ALL the land long zoned for community use,  could be converted to luxury condos against the will of the West Village community. Quinn’s Sponsor was thus able to insure a timely long term stream of revenue to the spendthrift Rudin clan which was rumored to be on the ropes financially, according to certain unnamed societal sources.

IF IT LOOKS LIKE A CROOK, SMELLS LIKE A CROOK….

The question is when will the FBI turn turn its investigation to Bill Rudin and Christine Quinn and not simply those swimming with her in the political swamp which is New York politics? Because you see: if it looks like a crook, smells like a crook, has white collar criminal counsel like a crook and her co-conspirators (whether Democrats or Republican) start dropping like flies – tell you what, I am pretty sure that she is a big fat freaking crook.

—–

EPILOGUE – AT WHAT PRICE: CHRISTINE QUINN

At what price are some establishment New York Democrats, Emily’s List and Human Rights Watch supporting Christine Quinn against overwhelming evidence of her total lack of character and integrity, corruption and abandonment of core democratic principles of equity, fairness and the Common Good in our society? Is there in fact a double standard if you are a GAY WOMAN? Is ‘Identity Politics above all else the motivating reason to ignore legitimate grassroots opposition to Quinn’s candidacy from the LGBT Community, Good Government proponents and Animal Rights activists?

Few can or should be hoodwinked by Boss Quinn’s self serving agenda and sponsorship by influence peddlers. Or is it just that in your estimation, in the SEA OF CORRUPTION INSPIRED BY THE SPEAKER OF THE CITY COUNCIL DURING HER REIGN, even as indictments and prosecutions swirl about all her cronies, you will put your head in the sand to delude yourself that Christine Quinn must actually be honest and clean? Or is she in your estimation the least dirty in the CESSPOOL of NY Political Corruption? The Citizens of New York City deserve a damn answer or none of you stand for what you propose to stand for.

‘QUINNBERG’ STONEWALLED: LGBT Democrats in Her Own District (Chelsea & West Village) Lead Grassroots Uprising Against Her.

Don’t want no PAPER GANGSTA
Won’t sign away my life to
Someone whose got the flavor
But don’t have no follow through
Don’t want no PAPER GANGSTA
Wont sign no monkey papers
I don’t do funny business
Not interested in fakers
Don’t want no PAPER GANGSTA
-Lady Gaga

On Wednesday, March 20, 2013 the official  LGBT Mayoral Forum for the 2013 Democratic Primary at Baruch College’s Mason Hall on East 23rd Street was sponsored by leading local  LGBT organizations. Sponsoring organizations included:  Gay City News, Stonewall Democrats of NY, Gay & Lesbian Independent Democrats, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, and Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens for the official LGBT Mayoral Forum for the 2013 Democratic Primary. and their membership gathered at Baruch College’s Mason Hall for the LGBT Mayoral Forum for the 2013 Democratic Primary.

Quinn, an out lesbian and master of identity politics, who represents Chelsea and the West Village and considered by many to be the front runner, in the company of what some might presume to be her base, did not walk away with the debate, perhaps for many of the reasons eloquently outlined by Alec Baldwin earlier this week in a piece entitled ‘The Mighty Quinnberg’ wherein he exposed Quinn as a political charlatan.   That in an of itself is a newsworthy development.  As reported on NY1, Quinn took hits inside the forum for some of her unpopular positions on sick leave and the term extension  from the candidates challenging her, including especially Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson. Likewise the growing grassroots opposition to Quinn had a powerful presence outside the debate.

The NY Daily News reported that: “Christine Quinn booed by LGBT groups during forum for Democratic mayoral candidates”.  As noted by the publishers of the citizen activists on the Defeat Christine Quinn Facebook page:

“Even though Quinn has distributed 10X more discretionary funds to her own LGBT-heavy district than to the rest of the City (which is in greater need), the community booed her at a Mayoral forum hosted by the City’s gay democratic clubs.”

Back in the day, when Christine Quinn was more an urban Norma Rae building her street cred as a progressive activist for the working middle class on issues of affordable housing  and LGBT rights, few would have thought that the candidate who has since morphed into Larry the Cable Guy just trying to git r done for her developer sponsors, would face an uprising of this nature from within her base. To many it was inconceivable. Welcome to 2013 where Quinn is at risk of losing the endorsements of both Democratic Clubs in her own district of Chelsea. (See: Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club / Chelsea Reform Democratic Club)

The question becomes, how much erosion of support can Quinn withstand within the LGBT Community and still have a viable campaign or at least remain the front runner? Or will the power of Quinn’s identity politics and the culture of distraction preclude the wider citizen body and voter population from absorbing the full nature, depth and extent of the earnest intellectual basis for the revolt against Quinn within the engaged elements in her community and the democratic party in general? Only time will tell what the future holds in store for the Speaker of the City Council but at this juncture, she might be content to run out the clock on her opponents to preclude any one candidate from gaining material traction and the anti-Quinn vote from coalescing around one anti-Quinn candidate rather than being splintered among her challengers.

CLAIMS INSIDER ELITIST POSING AS POPULIST IS A DECEPTION & NOT QUALIFIED TO LEAD NEW YORK CITY

REAL New Yorker – ALEC BALDWIN penned a “must read” in the Huffington Post on the MIGHTY QUINNBERG – a fraudulent to the core shape-shifting political opportunist and pseudo middle class warrior; one who has been accused by those in her own party of violating the public trust and too often betraying the citizens of this city.

In the HuffPo piece, Baldwin who had previous and rather eloquently pointed out Quinn’s untrustworthy, duplicitous and self serving nature and overall problematic character went a step further today dissecting with precision the hollow polluted soul of a blatant political opportunist in Christine Quinn. While I heartily recommend a full reading of Baldwin’s piece, because so much is notable, his opening is worthy of review:

“How do I convey this without offending the gay community, or women who are supportive of more women in politics, or those who believe that Michael Bloomberg was a great mayor for New York? It may be impossible, but here goes.

Christine Quinn is not qualified to be mayor of New York.

Quinn basically had a deal with Bloomberg that he would support her and, as such, is clearly presenting herself now as pro-business, while walking and talking her way across the five boroughs as a populist.”

As a New Yorker by birth who has had ups and downs in this metropolis, I regard Alec Baldwin’s words herein as gospel. Forget the caricature of the man stalked on the streets of this city by paparazzi. He gets it.  Baldwin knows what New York City needs:

As the pendulum inevitably swings again, New York needs a mayor who is three things: one who truly possesses middle class values (whether they be middle class or not), one who is uncompromising in their integrity and one who can genuinely stoke the ineffable spirit that defines New York. A spirit of diversity that says come as you are. A spirit of community that says all for one and one for all, yet encouraging an opinionated, muscular individuality. A great New Yorker once told me “If you are truly one in a million, there are seven other people like you in this town. You can form a club.”

Truth told, it is REAL New Yorkers like Baldwin, Donny Moss, Cynthia Nixon, Tom Allon (who dropped out of the mayors race today) who have and continue to expand the character of the debate by highlighting issues that matter most to New Yorkers and in many cases exposing Quinn for the political charlatan that she is, who are truly heroic.

QUINN’S “WALK-and-’TAWK’” TOUR OF THE FIVE BOROUGHS

You need look no further than Quinn’s announcement of her candidacy for Mayor which she  kicked-off with a well orchestrated tour of New York City for evidence of the not so subtle deception.

In the clearly rehearsed and scripted announcement and roll out of her candidacy which can be seen above, the Glen Gove, Long Island product chose to hammer it home with an over emphasis on the slang pronunciation of ‘talk’ as ‘TAWK’.  It simply rubbed me the wrong way.  The more I reflected on this not so subtle con,  the more I found it offensive, especially because it did not reflect her true style of speaking.  All I could think was that the hustle of the Outer Boroughs is on like Donkey Kong in this walking and talking tour of the city (contrived perhaps to mimic Hillary Clinton’s listening tour of the Empire State before running for Senator); and that this elitist posing as a populist was willing to do anything she could to somehow illustrate that she was just like us, or at least the caricature of us that she and others like her have formed. We aren’t buying it.

As a citizen of New York City who grew up in the Outer Boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn and who was teased mercilessly during my freshmen year of college at Boston University for my “funny accent”  – some called me ‘Brooklyn’ even though I spent more of my life in Queens – I took offense at Christine Quinn’s clear attempt to trade on a caricature or cliché of the manner those of us from the Outer Boroughs speak and sound and pronounce the word ‘talk’.

Does NYC really want a leader who thinks she needs to dumb down and disparage us in order to appeal to us? Quinn has in effect acknowledged that she sees REAL New Yorkers, especially those of us in the Outer Boroughs outside Manhattan Society’s cocktail circuit as lesser, hence the basis for this type of low ball appeal. This is not how she “TALKS” but this is yet more proof of the character of a political charlatan; someone trying so hard to seem like she is just like us but who is so clearly not. She even felt the need to get rid of her METS Cap and become a Yankees fan to chase votes in the Bronx.  How much of a ‘REAL’ New Yorker can Quinn truly be with maneuvers like that? REAL New Yorkers who care about the Future of New York City do not deserve this kind of cheap hustle from a political chameleon.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF ALEC BALDWIN’S POST

• Newsday, Alec Baldwin Slams Christine Quinn in blog post
• CAPITAL, Quinn Gets Maloney, deBlasio gets Baldwin, Allon and Lhota get lunch
• CAPITAL, Alec Baldwin Joins Cynthia Nixon in backing de Blasio, and Criticizing Quinn
• Alec Baldwin: “Christine Quinn is not qualified to be mayor of New York”
• NY Magazine: Chris London Comment Called Christine Quinn Unqualified 3 Months Ago
• AM New York: Alec Baldwin Not down with Quinn for Mayor

MY PRIOR POSTS:

• CHRISTINE QUINN – A SOULLESS POLITICAL OPPORTUNIST & AN ABJECT FRAUD; UNFIT TO BE MAYOR, BUT ANNOUNCES HER CANDIDACY ANYWAY
• CHRISTINE QUINN IS SOMETHING FAR WORSE THAN BLOOMBERG’S FOURTH TERM

The Future of NY (Perspective)

• Jane Jacobs & The Future of New York
• Center For An Urban Future
• Radically Weird Visions of the Future of New York
• Micro apartments are the future in New York
• The future of cities: Designing New York for 2030

DOES QUINN’S CHOICE OF CAP FOREBODE OF A CAMPAIGN COMING UNDONE?

Real New Yorker’s who have not already dismissed Christine Quinn as a political charlatan for the path to City Hall she has attempted to carve with a combination of identity politics and appeasement of crony capitalist developers, may yet take a pause, given some recent headlines; including those which seem nonsensical on the surface but illustrate the lack of core values or beliefs of the Speaker of the City Council.

QUINN ABANDONS UNDERDOGS, STANDS WITH THE OVER-DOGS: Throws METS Under the Bus for Yankees & Citizens Under the Bus For Developers

“I have to admit it’s been hard to be a Mets fan during the past 10, 15 years,” said Tom Allon, the Liberal Party nominee. “I’ve always liked the underdogs, and that’s why the Mets appealed to me.” - Tom Allon, 2013 NYC Mayoral Candidate

The Gothamist highlighted Christine Quinn’s iffy allegiances in a piece entitled “Flip-Flopper Alert: Former Mets Fan Christine Quinn Now Roots For Yankees”.  Even this somewhat meaningless headline illustrates that Quinn fell for the classic trap that political outsiders fall for, abandoning loyalty to the team that they allegedly cheered for most of their life to curry favor with local sports fans, choosing the team that they calculate has more supporters and the cache of a winner.  According to the NY Post, Christine Quinn says that she now prefers the Bronx based Yankees over the Queens based Mets.   WHY?  Why would the Long Island born, London Terrace living, Chelsea based Mayoral Candidate on her march towards City Hall, dismiss Queens and the METS, if she is not angling for votes in the Bronx?

QUEENS DEMOCRATIC MACHINE: Did Quinn Abandon Mets Because She Has Support of Queens Democratic Machine in the Bag?

Documentary film maker Donny Moss has exposed how Quinn’s ties to the Queens Democratic machine caused her to stand against animal rights. So therefore, I must think that Quinn is so confident of her ability to win Queens; that the Queens Democratic machine will reward her for stand against animal rights protecting the horse drawn carriage industry in the face of irrefutable evidence, outlined in the documentary film ‘Blinders’, illustrating that these carriage rides are out dated and abusive to the horses as well as an urban danger.

Is there something more to Quinn’s switch than meets the eye?  Perhaps. But to those who have watched Quinn, the switch should come as no surprise given that Quinn has filled her slush funds currying favor in this town with the “over-dogs” and the overlords in New York City as the expense of  society’s underdogs, human and animal rights and the middle class.

CHRIS QUINN TO BE LIKE BILL BUCKNER

The Yankees are one of the preeminent franchises in all of professional sports without a doubt. Nevertheless, REAL New Yorkers, including those like Tom Allon cheer for the underdog, don’t abandon their loyalty to a team simply because of a bad run or because they think there may be a few more Yankee fans who could vote for them.  This is not something that Rangers, Knicks or Mets fans who have not had much to cheer about lately would regard lightly.  But given Quinn’s rejection of the METS, I would gather many a METS fan, including this one, will cheer madly, if Quinn should stumble badly in the Democratic primary, much like we did when the ball went through Buckner’s legs to help lead the METS to victory over the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series. Quinn may come to rue the day she discarded the METS.

On the hollowness of Quinn, Tom Allon deserves the consideration of Real New Yorkers simply for asking the question that cuts to the core of the Quinn fraud and deception:  “Did Chris Quinn Bet Your Life to Become Mayor”?

NYC DEVELOPERS: “PUT LIPSTICK ON A PIG”

Quinn seems to be nothing more than ‘a soul less shape-shifting political opportunist’ whose belief system is contrived on the fly.  She has abandoned reason, her constituents, the working class and other Real New Yorkers and yes contributed to the continued abuse of horses, the collapse of St. Vincent’s Hospital, all  to stand with Crony Capitalist pigs who allow this political hack to feed at the trough. Anyone who says that “you can’t put lipstick on a pig”, surely never watched Christine Quinn put on her makeup before work, a public appearance or a meeting with her enablers.

The voters of Queens need to remind Ms. Quinn that we don’t need fair weather friends, fans or leaders. We must Vote Quinn Out.

GUARDIAN ASKS: Why do New York Liberals Support Conservative Quinn? But Fact Is: REAL New Yorkers in Chelsea & NYC Outer Boroughs Don’t…Increasingly

The Guardian Pulls Back the Curtain on Christine Quinn asking: “Why do New York liberals support conservative Christine Quinn?”. As posited therein, “she could be the city’s first woman and openly gay mayor, but her record doesn’t line up with most progressives.”

The mainstream media continues to gloss over the growing resistance to Quinn’s candidacy which has metastasized into a grassroots citywide campaign to Defeat Christine Quinn. Quinn faces constituent abandonment over ignoring issues relevant to the citizens in her own district of Chelsea,  the LGBT Community in general, many who formerly or at one time supported Quinn’s political rise as well as the working middle class in the Outer Boroughs of New York City. For example, see:

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club

• DNAinfo: “Christine Quinn Foes Prepare Campaign to Spoil Her Mayoral Hopes”
• Observer| Politicker: “A Democratic Club in Chelsea Continues Its War on Christine Quinn”
• City & State: “Mayoral Candidates (Except Chris Quinn) Invited to Jim Owles Democratic Club Annual Awards Ceremony”

Chelsea Reform Democratic Club

• DNAinfo: “Christine Quinn’s Endorsement From Home Club at Risk, Sources Say”

REAL NEW YORKER – CYNTHIA NIXON CAMPAIGNS FOR BILL DE BLASIO (Not Christine Quinn)

Cynthia Nixon is not just a celebrity but is also a talented actress, gay woman or a mother but also very much a REAL NEW YORKER, one who was been here for a long enough time to understand the very real concerns of average citizens across the five boroughs. Truth told, it would be far easier for Cynthia Nixon to cast her lot with Manhattan Society elites and hang out at Quinn For New York fundraisers. That is what most would expect but she has rejected identity politics in supporting a candidate other than Christine Quinn, who she has criticized for Quinn’s stance against paid sick leave for workers, which affects women and those of lower income disproportionately.   She has not just endorsed Bill de Blasio but the ‘Sex and the City’ star has been actively campaigning for Bill de Blasio. Nixon knows that de Blasio unlike Quinn is in this race for ALL New Yorkers not just the Real Estate developers, like Quinn’s sponsor/enabler Bill Rudin of the Rudin Real Estate family, who tore down St. Vincent’s Hospital, land originally zoned for community use to build luxury blood condos.

SO HOW MUCH OF A ‘REAL’ NEW YORKER IS QUINN REALLY?

If you emigrated to New York City five minutes ago with no real sense of the true history of this city but identify as gay, consider yourself a bon vivant,  global jet setter, or perhaps even have a trust fund or wealthy parents, and maybe even have a preference for partying in the meatpacking district then maybe you think its super cool that Quinn may become the first openly gay female Mayor of New York City. Maybe you will not investigate her record beyond the symbolism of her candidacy.

Maybe also you see absolutely nothing wrong with the over development of cookie cutter luxury condo towers which have sprouted up across the metropolis in neighborhood’s extracted of their essential character. What this city once looked like or that it was hospitable to artists, the working middle class and intellectuals is not relevant to you. After all this is becoming your New York, a great place to party as long as you can find and high rise digs in the sky with a view to entertain. If so then you perhaps share a commonalty of interest with Bill Rudin, Christine Quinn and Senator Tom Duane, and the other societal elites who enabled them on the City Planning Commission. Maybe it does not bother you that this crowd has no long term economic plan beyond turning New York City into some hollow elitist utopia of high rise luxury condos in prolific glass towers in neighborhood’s without character so that the Rudin Real Estate family and their ilk can get more rental income off of property once zoned for community use: parks, schools, hospitals and the like. Maybe you have no use for them. You are young, single, have no children or do not intend to have to build a meaningful life or need to hustle for survival any longer.

That New York has become a city with sky rocketing real estate prices, a stock market soaring to historical highs with a plummeting middle class is perhaps also not a concern to you. While this is all happening a once proud middle class of this city collapses all around you. Citizens in the outer boroughs are increasingly becoming priced out as their income collapses and property values increase. As a result they are pushed further aware from the bustling core of this city. And yet your lack of concern for anything other than her ‘identity politics’, the veil which masks her corruption, is exactly what Christine Quinn is counting on: your vote and the vote of more folks like you. No, I do not want you to leave. You have every right to be here.  I just want you to consider the Future of New York more thoughtfully than have Quinn and her sponsors.

• Jane Jacobs & The Future of New York
• Center For An Urban Future
• Radically Weird Visions of the Future of New York
• Micro apartments are the future in New York
• The future of cities: Designing New York for 2030

BUT, rest assured that Christine Quinn won’t get my vote or the vote of any thoughtful New Yorker who understands that this city can be more than the piggy bank of a few insiders who have bought as their puppet, an unqualified political hack with a simplistic and narrow vision for the future of this great city that is centered around her own self enrichment.

NYC’S EPICENTER IS IN THE HEART OF ITS CITIZENS: It Does Not Take the ‘King of Corona’ to See that a Five Borough Vision of New York City Eludes Long Island Girl Christine Quinn

I am what some might refer to as a so called REAL New Yorker. I grew up in Queens and Brooklyn and now live in Manhattan, something I long aspired to but have questioned the necessity of living in this borough in recent years, given the escalating cost of housing here. My parents made the move to Manhattan before leaving to retire in the warmth of Florida. My dream of the  ‘Bright Lights Big City’ may have been different than that of Jay McInerney’s character in the book of the same name but it was a dream nonetheless. Like it is for many, Manhattan remains a concept or an idea as much as anything else.

Yet, I am ‘B&T’ or bridge and tunnel all the way; and there is simply nothing getting around that fact  or that the basis for my dreams was formed in middle and working class neighborhoods in the Outer Boroughs of New York City.   I have never forgotten who I am,  where I came from, nor am I deaf to the dreams of those who remained from whence I came. That includes my own family, friends and fellow citizens who pursue their dreams still in those places, even if their success in life, in many cases, has often well eclipsed mine on many levels.   Even so, since my life is not over, maybe even the Bronx and Staten Island might still be in my future. Maybe it is even my destiny to be the five borough citizen. Who knows?  But if I have learned anything it is that the soul of New York City is well outside Times Square, Grand Central Station (Terminal) or City Hall. The epicenter of New York City is frankly in the hearts of its citizens.

ABOUT ME & THE BOROUGHS OF NYC: In Black & White with a little Color

Jamaica Hospital is my birth place. My early years were spent in this city of neigborhoods in several notable ones, including Kew Gardens, Rego Park and Corona, Queens before our family picked up and moved to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. I grew up playing in the Forest Hills Little League, enjoying pick up games and otherwise exploring Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the two time site of the World’s Fair, when it was even more of a wide open space and my mother Virginia Bernadette Saunig who grew up attending St. Columba in the Chelsea section of Manhattan while her parents worked for AT&T and the New York  Central Railroad,  even worked there along side Louis Armstrong of all people. But then again she was also a cocktail waitress at joints in Queens where Xavier Cugat practiced his craft. But I diverge, I recall also pending afternoons at the Corona Ice King and Spaghetti Park and playing Stickball at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church parking lot on 99th Street.

But it was there at P.S. 14 where it was “me and Julio down by the school yard” trying to figure out how to impress Barbara Alman, the first girl that truly caught my eye. I got butterflies in my stomach just looking at her.  I could barely utter a coherent phrase to illustrate a more than passing interest in her, but some of my female classmate friends saw it clearly and often teased me about it. Those were the days, when the biggest challenge in life was to figure out if I was going to say hello to Barbara or something more.

After leaving Queens during the Saturday Night Fever era, I often found myself hanging out at Connie’s Pizza on Nostrand Avenue in Sheepshead Bay trying my best to look like one of the local punks. But how could we even think we were ‘gangsta’ in our shiny orange and white Sheepshead Bay High School Sharks Swimming Team jackets or even acting like we founded the joint.

I have memories and I still have friends and family who grew up live in the ‘Outer Boroughs’, the ones that Manhattan political elites only realize exist after a natural disaster or when they seek citywide elective office.  So yes, though I may live in Manhattan currently, my soul is ‘Bridge & Tunnel’. Words once used to disparage people of my ilk are now, for me, a source of pride.  When I found work in Manhattan and landed my first legal job in New York City at Weil, Gotshal & Manges on Fifth Avenue, I can recall some of those I first associated with in Manhattan, who perhaps saw themselves as somewhat higher on the human food chain,  snidely refer to those from the outer boroughs as ‘B&T’.   I got past some of  my friends in college at Boston University calling me  ’Brooklyn’  by improving my diction, getting higher grades than they did and then gaining acceptance to the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  Long before Joey from friends made “How you doin” famous for me that simple phrase got me snickers in some circles when I spoke, including from a young girl from the Town of Yardley in Bucks County, Pennsylvania who later became my college girlfriend.  I  would be lying, however, if I did not say it irked me when I overheard ‘young urban professionals’ or Manhattanites at happy hours at fancy bars and restaurants in Manhattan, denigrate the people on the other side of the bridges and tunnels leading to Manhattan. When I reminded them, in my Brooks Brother suit (the one my mom bought for me) that I was from Queens and Brooklyn too, they would quickly say ” but you are different.”  Ironically today on the other side of Manhattan’s bridges & tunnels you find trust fund kids and wealthy entrepreneurs and folks I knew who never received the education I did and never emigrated to Manhattan became millionaires on their own.  Some even have more than those who made it in Manhattan. And no, it is not because they or their families were “all mobbed up.”

In my teens, my mom moved us to Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn where I literally became a man. It was was the first place I laid down with a woman, got mugged, got my ass kicked and put myself on a path to realize my dreams or at least some of them. After all the clock has not yet run out on my life.  OK, I must confess, living in Brooklyn in the hey day of Saturday Night Fever, I never owned a Members Only jacket. Instead fashion was nary a concern, because I was hoisting iron at Bath Beach Bodybuilding with some of my dorky friends, some of whom walked around full time as if they were on stage doing a lat spread. If any of you are reading this I hope you crack up but you know it is true!  Leaving the gym, I was often dressed in engineer boots and Lee Jeans. And if you know Bensonhurst, you would know I stuck out like a sore thumb.  I was ok that I never totally fit in. But then again that is what we wore to school in Queens at I.S. 61 and later at John Bowne in Queens and I spent more time listening to Rock and even got a job  at Harry M. Stevens, the concessionaire at Madison Square Garden, where I was able to work rock concerts in the 70’s.  I liked the movie Saturday Night Fever but starting out in Queens, for me, people like that were characters. That is until my first day at Sheepshead Bay High School where I saw folks dressed like Tony Manero and his friends in my class.

THE ED KOCH BRIDGE? – Nobody Calls it that!

REAL New Yorkers, those in the outer boroughs know that Long Island girl Christine Quinn is not one of us.  Maybe she should become Mayor of a nice town in Long Island?  I do not have an axe to grind with the deceased Mayor Edward Irving Koch other than to take issue with elements of the public relations burnished legacy that attempted to make him more than he was and gloss over selected elements of his actual legacy.  There is no doubt that Ed Koch deserves his props, St. Christopher, however,  he was not. Nevertheless, Quinn should know that her backroom deal to name the Queensboro Bridge the Ed Koch Bridge while he was ’still alive’ so she could bank an endorsement from him, won’t mean much to folks in Queens. We don’t call the 59th Street Bridge or the Queensboro Bridge the Ed Koch Bridge; in fact ‘Nobody Calls It The Ed Koch Bridge.’ Giving the city to Ed Koch and Bill Rudin so she can herself become Mayor is not impressive; its political patronage at best and at worst, something else entirely.

Furthermore, if Quinn hopes to have the Queens Democratic Machine rig the vote for her maybe she can win Queens but I believe that if the voters Queens have their say,  Christine Quinn will be repudiated at the ballot box. Quinn’s best hope is to have her campaign and the mainstream media lure voters into thinking that the Mayoralty is already the bag for her.  It is not. Once the voters realize it is not, Quinn’s candidacy will implode like a house of cards. All politics is local and the Democrats in Chelsea, at least those who participate and watch what leaders actually do, have already walked away from Christine Quinn. The campaign to Defeat Christine Quinn is growing at the grassroots level across this city, among Democrats and within the LGBT Community. Quinn’s ‘identity politics’ are not a good enough reason to vote for her. That should tell any Democrat paying attention to the truth of what Christine Quinn represents. They know Quinn does not represent the working men and women of New York City. Fact is that this ought to and just might be the “Twilight of the Elite Christine Quinn” if the media campaign to wash over her record does not fool a majority of voters.

DOES QUINN HOPE TO BE THE WIZARD OF OZ?

Voters in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island as well as the enlightened in Manhattan will come to realize, if they have not already, that Christine Quinn is the plutocracy’s wind up toy.  But, especially, if you live along the LIE, the BQE or take the MTA into the city or near the city for work, you will recognize that via Bloomberg and Quinn Manhattan is becoming more like the Emerald City in the fictional Land of OZ, a place so far out of reach for the forgotten working men and women who grew up in New York City and more an urban playgroundfor the global jet setting elite only ; a place with a skyrocketing real estate and stock market with a plummeting middle class.

THE FUTURE OF NEW YORK CITY – QUINN & RUDIN’S LIMITED VISION

New York City was once to the rest of the world, a beacon of urban possibility, a place of dreams for artists and the iconoclastic; a place where Governor Mario Cuomo, also a product of Jamaica, Queens,challenged the vision of elites who were looking past the plight of the every man and woman in this country. Cuomo cut his teeth at the local level – representing “The Corona Fighting 69″ and then at the national level in a historic speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention challenging Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as a “Shining City on the Hill”. In his speech, Cuomo outlined how America had become “Tale of Two Cities” illustrating in vivid detail the emergence of a less compassionate society, the plight of the increasingly forgotten and eroding middle class and vulnerability of the elderly, the sick and the poor. Cuomo referenced the folks behind the Norman Rockwell like paintings of America that all too often some politicians seek to craft at election time to brush over the uncomfortable externalities of their policy. Now our city is becoming as empty and soul less as Hollywood on the Hudson and the words of Mario Cuomo’s historic speech in 1984 even more relevant today then they were back then.

ARE RUDIN/QUINN – OFFERING TO BUILD ‘A BETTER NEW YORK’?

The Rudin Real Estate Family may think they are building ‘A Better New York’ or building some ‘Shining City on the Hill’ by knocking down this city’s history to install similar and soul less high rise glass towers and shopping malls in place of hospitals, educational institutions, public parks and community centers across this city so a handful of Real Estate Insiders can profit from creating 3rd and 4th homes or real estate investment properties for people who live in Manhattan barely 20% of the time while they screw the people who have to live and work here 100% of the time.  Whether it is the destruction of St. Vincent’s Hospital, the over development of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the planned waste transfer facility in family neighborhood on the Upper East Side and tearing down schools for more glass high rises, we ought to stop and asking what the hell is going on?

One must ask Quinn and Rudin:

Am I missing something?  Do Rudin and Quinn have any grander vision for the future of New York? Or is all that they can imagine for the future of this once proud metropolis is that its citizens should be working wage slave servants to those they hope come to populate the similar glass high rises that they continue to build?  Is the only vision you have for New Yorker’s that they should serve the food and drinks, clean the apartments and drive the limousines in this New- New York?  Have certain  Manhattan elites forgotten the true import of New York City’s rich history, the lessons of Jane Jacobs and the ‘Future of New York’ she imagined – a place of hope and expectation? I wonder about this because all they seem able to imagine is condo’s for the global elite while they rip apart the ties that bind our community of citizens.  We all need to go on a Jane Jacobs Walk if we want to avoid the complete and total cultural collapse of our metropolis and avoid a “Dark Age Ahead.”

Christine Quinn is unacceptable. I hope and expect that the chorus will be amplified my fellow citizens in that regard in the months ahead.  Quinn’s ‘identity politics’ must lose at the polls if we are to preserve New York as a place of hope and expectation for future generations.

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REFERENCE LINKS - The Anti-Quinn Grassroots Movement

Key Websites: Vote Quinn Out | Facebook: Defeat Christine Quinn | Facebook: Queers Against Christine Quinn | The Campaign to Be Mayor of NYC in 2013 | Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club – Chelsea Democratic Club | Facebook: The Outer Boroughs of New York City Against Christine Quinn | Save Flushing Meadow Park: from developer friends of Bloomberg and Quinn

Constituent Abandonment: A Democratic Club (Jim Owles Club) Continues its War on Christine Quinn | Capital New York: Actress Cynthia Nixon endorses Bill de Blasio, Criticizes Quinn over Paid Sick Leave | Anybody But Quinn | City & State NY | Citizens Union: Council Politics Taint Discretionary Funding

Quinn Slush Fund Scandal – NY Magazine: Quinn in the Slush | NY Times: NYC Council Speaker Presides Over $4.5 Million Slush Fund | Pauline Park: Christine Quinn the NYC Slush Fund Scandal | Christine Quinn Sold Out: Quinn Slush Fund Lawsuit Update | NY Times: Christine Quinn Uses NYC Council Funds to Reward Allies | Bronx Chatter: Quinn, Seabrook & the Slush Fund Scandal

RUDIN Family Blood Condos – SATANIC LUXURY: Rudin Family Blood Condos |St. Vincent’s Hospital to Close in Manhattan | NY Times: The Decline of St. Vincent’s Hospital | Norman Siegel Calls to Mayor to Open Investigation to City Council Hospital Hearing St. Vincent’s Site |  Tom Allon Slams Quinn For St. Vincent’s Closure | Suzannah B. Troy (NY Artist):NY Post Christine Quinn our Belladonna Porn Queen [Killed] St. Vincent’s Hospital

Repeal of Term Limits – Term Limits & Christine Quinn | Christine Quinn Wants to be Mayor of NYC | WSJ: City Council Speaker Defends Power to Overrule Voters on Term Limits | Boss Quinn Will Do Anything to Win to Become First Gay Mayor: insults constituent in her own district by referring to him as a no-name blogger. | NPR: Christine Quinn Never Supported Term Limits | Facebook -The Day Democracy Died: 3rd Anniversary of Quinn’s Repeal of Term Limits | NY Magazine: How Bill DeBlasio Can Defeat Christine Quinn

Character, Integrity & Temperament – The New Corrupt Adventures of Old Christine | Christine Quinn: Corrupt Democrat of the Week |  The Epoch Times: Challenging Quinn A Risk For NYC Council Members | Why Quinn Must Go | The Voice of the West Village | Politicker: Christine Quinn Storms Out of Living Wage Rally

Twitter: Stop Christine Quinn | Christine Quinn |

**HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES**

1. St. Vincent’s Hospital – Epicenter of AIDS Crisis
St. Vincent’s Hospital | AIDS Memorial Park: St. Vincent’s Hospital did not turn its back on the LGBT Community during the AIDS Crisis, quite the opposite in fact. St. Vincent’s was the epicenter of the AIDS Crisis. I am pretty sure that the entity’s compassionate policies exemplified for its care for those that nobody else would care for, destroyed its balance sheet. Yet, the humanity of the institution was not reciprocated by the liberal elites from Boss Quinn to Bette Midler of New York Restoration Project, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Susan Sarandon, Rosie O’Donnell et al etc.  Perhaps they would rather have a luxury condo and toast in restoring the Continental Baths at the Ansonia or Studio 54 than fighting for a Catholic Hospital. You see, it is truly important to put in the Mayor’s Mansion, a woman who enables the corruption of NYC Insiders in backroom deals. Enabling her sponsor: Bill Rudin of the ABNY – Association For A Better New York to build luxury condos over the corpse of a Landmark medical treatment facility is critical, because its not like we have enough of them already in this town. The physicians, nurses and staff were there for the West Village Community during the AIDS Epidemic but the politically corrupt, grandstanding and annoyingly verbose, self serving and pontificating windbag - Tom Duane and his protege Christine Quinn turned their back on St. Vincent’s in its hour of need. History will show that those running St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center made a huge mistake in letting in the vultures: Rudin Management Company, Inc. For years leading up to its 2010 closing, St. Vincent’s was the target of a controversial billion-dollar luxury condo conversion plan by the Rudin real estate dynasty. Quinn’s Sponsor, Crony Capitalist Vulture Bill Rudin long had plans to develop Luxury Condo’s on the landmark site of the 160 year old hospital and chapel. With the assistance of Speaker Quinn, State Senator Tom Duane and a media campaign hatched and waged by societal elites in the shadows of society, the true vampires pulled the strings to enable Quinn’s sponsors: the Rudin clan to shutter a historic humanitarian medical institution and acquire for pennies on the dollar a landmark property of the 160 year old medical treatment facility and leaving the Lower West Side of Manhattan without a trauma hospital.  Maybe someone should ask Bill Rudin who leads the Association For a Better New York whether more luxury condos for celebrities is preferable for a better New York than a critical hospital to treat its citizens in a vulnerable part of Manhattan.

2. QUINN & DUANE – LGBT Elites & Media Campaign Assisted Rudin Family in Acquiring/Stealing St. Vincent’s Hospital

Background: St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center (wiki)

The Vultures Gain Access: St. Vincent’s ‘Let’s in the Vultures’ (Rudin Management Company, Inc): For years leading up to its 2010 closing, St. Vincent’s was the target of a controversial billion-dollar luxury condo conversion plan by the Rudin real estate dynasty. As noted by the following article, the vultures initially promised something quite different then before commencing construction decided that a hospital was impractical. See:  The Villager: St. Vincent’s and Rudin unveil elliptical hospital, condo tower: St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Rudin Organization last week revealed their preliminary plans for a new state-of-the-art hospital building on the west side of Seventh Ave. and for the residential redevelopment on the east side of the present hospital complex.

Orchestrated Media Campaign Leading to Closure: St. Vincent’s Hospital to Close in Manhattan | NY Times: The Decline of St. Vincent’s Hospital

The Plan: DNAinfo.com: Rudin’s St. Vincents Plan Debated at City Planning Hearing | Curbed: Plans Filed For Latest Aspect of St. Vincent’s Redevelopment | Observer: Rudin’s St. Vincent Project Gets Green Light From Planning Commission | CRAINS: Last Minute Deal Saves St. Vinnie’s Redevelopment | SATANIC LUXURY: Rudin Family Blood Condos with an AIDS Memorial Park

The Luxury Condos: 130 West 12th Street

Community Outrage: Coalition For A New Village Hospital | Hospital Now: Coalition Calling for Re-establishment of a Medical Center for Lower West Side of Manhattan | Video: Community Outrage at Rudin Family, Mayor & Quinn | Senator Tom Duane Shamed on St. Vincent’s Hospital Closing | Norman Siegel Calls to Mayor to Open Investigation to City Council Hospital Hearing St. Vincent’s Site |  Tom Allon Slams Quinn For St. Vincent’s Closure | Rudin Family Blood Condos

On The Memorial – NYC AIDS Memorial Park Competition | Queerty: St. Vincent’s Hospital NYC Epicenter of AIDS Crisis to Become [Rudin Built] Luxury Condos | The Villager: Should AIDS Be Part or All of Park Triangle Memorial?

AIDS History (selected): Avert: History of AIDS up to 1986 | AIDS & Politics – 1980 to 1989| PBS: 10 Films that Address the Aids Crisis | Contrarian View: Virus Myth: HIV & AIDS – In 80’s, Fear Spread Faster Than AIDS | The Changing Face of Gay Men’s Sexuality in Response to AIDS

On Toasting the Elite Crony Capitalists: Oh yes,  I am sure we will have a nice little Memorial and a cute fundraiser or cocktail party hosted by the Rudin’s, Quinn and all their elite friends but it will not make up for the elimination of this critical and vital NY institution.