No! I don't mean NYCHA is not broke but ...New York City’s Housing Authority (NYCHA) has been and is being mugged and robbed by Federal, State and City Republicans. NYCHA operates more than 2600 buildings with more than 180,000 apartments and many more than 400,000 residents. (It does a lot more, but for purposes of this post and the next, I focus only on its role as housing operator) As a result of planned policies federal, state and local subsidies for NYCHA have declined dramatically over the Bush, Pataki, Giuliani and Bloomberg years. As a result, cash for routine maintenance is drained away, fees and rents have increased and surprisingly, NYC continues, vampire-like, to suck hundreds of millions of dollars a year from NYCHA. (See the figures after the jump)

NYCHA’s GOP government-induced financial crisis was the subject of a fascinating forum a few days ago at the New School's Center for NYC Affairs. There Daily News columnist and editorial board member and former NYCHA resident Errol Lewis convened a panel of experts and officials and an audience of alarmed tenants and activists. The tales they told, the problems they debated and recent developments point to a NYCHA crisis which could, if not addressed, severely damage the largest single bloc of affordable housing in NYC – some of it imposed by Mayor Bloomberg right this minute.(Check out the forum here)  read more »

...turns out He managed to get through to George Pataki, causing the latter to reconsider this running for the Presidency business.

From the Manchester Union Leader:

Pataki said that "he's not going to actively campaign for President, indefinitely," said a person at the dinner who asked not to be named. "He never came out and said, 'I'm not running for President,' but everybody basically saw the handwriting on the wall, which is he's out. When you tell your activists it's OK to go support other candidates, the handwriting is on the wall."

"He said he is going to shift direction and focus on policy and spend more time with his family," the source said.

Thank You, oh Lord, for letting that cup pass us by.

(Hat tip: Alien and Sedition)

I am not an enthusiastic fan of Hillary Clinton for a variety of reasons. However, her dogged dedication to a cause very close to my heart is enough to earn my vote. Hillary continues to champion the cause of the tens of thousands of victims of 9/11--no, not those who died in the attack but those who died and are dying and will die as a result of the attack.

Hillary invited the son of Cesar Borja to the State of the Union Address in her seemingly futile crusade to focus national attention on what one day may be considered to be one of the most heinous crimes in American history. Cesar Borja is one of a growing number of 9/11 heroes who are dying. Borja needs a lung transplant because he was poisoned on The Pile. Borja is one of as many as 400,000 victims of the largest and most ignored toxic waste dump in world history.

Back in September of 2006, NY1 ran a series on the release of a Mount Sinai Medical Center study that horrifyingly documented the true nightmare and crime of 9/11. This profoundly disturbing study scientifically documents the short and long term health impact of the World Trade Center collapse among an estimated 400,000 New Yorkers. That number includes those heroes who worked on the pile during the days and weeks following 9/11, the office workers and residents who returned to their jobs and homes in lower Manhattan within weeks following the disaster and residents of Brooklyn and Staten Island who were subsequently exposed to lingering dust and the dumping of debris.  read more »

Fred Dicker over at the Post brings us the startling news that ex-governor Pataki is demanding round the clock security, at state expense, to be provided by four full-time state police officers. Notably, no previous ex-governor has asked for, or received, a comparable level of protection, perhaps because it's not necessary.

The expense would amount to $20,000 a week; the matter is currently before the state Ethics Commission. Pataki's request would violate the statute that Alan Hevesi ran afoul of; and if you recall, the ex-governor (how I love writing that) came back to Albany from Iowa specifically to address that scandal.

Here's a thought: legality and ethics aside, methinks the ex-governor overestimates the degree of animosity (or any other emotion) he inspires. Simply put, people probably don't care enough to threaten the man. It's very hard even to imagine someone sitting in a dank basement somewhere plotting bodily harm to George Pataki; unless excruciating boringness inspires violence, the ex-governor should be quite safe.