http://town-village.com/2014/01/03/garodnick-speaker-race-is-not-over-yet/
I can't say I want him to win. He's too much of a smooth-talking lawyer/politician. Yes, he's fought for this community and has some accomplishments. But he's not even able to pressure CWCapital/CompassRock to get his own PCV building fixed, post Hurricane Sandy. He still has to dump his garbage by the outside door.
This quote from him is potentially troubling: “We are at an important crossroads in New York City history. We’re seeing a lot of turnover in local government. There are going to be issues in which the mayor and the City Council will part company. That’s why you need to have two distinct branches of government and we should not stray from that.”
Hmm, was he that concerned with two distinct branches of government during the Bloomberg years?
Also, I didn't know that his current district covers one of the wealthiest in NYC. If De Blasio is supposed to represent the middle and poorer classes of the city, does Garodnick represent a different constituency by his own admission?
I do know Garodnick supports big real estate and those damn high-rises that have been popping up in the most inopportune places and that he was against extending term limits before he took advantage of them. And Christine Quinn is pushing for his win. Perhaps we should give De Blasio the City Council Speaker he wants: Melissa Mark-Viverito. If the city is going to give serious, potential radical liberalism a shot, it may want to go all the way, instead of hedging its bet with Garodnick.
27 comments:
I hope he does not win. As far as I can see, he's done fuck all for us, suffering under the incompetent and unscrupulous CW/CR. He is definitely a RE ass-kisser and I don't see what earthly good he is as far as representing the middle class, especially those of us in PCVST. He's definitely a "team player" when it comes to Big Money, Big Law and Big Real Estate. We don't need him.
I wonder if his apartment has heat tonight. Our heat just went off and I doubt it will come back on until tomorrow morning. It's only 11 degrees outside, so I guess we should worry too much.
BASTARDS!!!!!!
NO HEAT in 5 Stuyvesant Oval!
Lowlife bastards!
I wonder what Dan's rent is. Ours is now too high for us to manage. Havaing trouble paying it with the new charges.
what do we do now?
He can't effectively deal with the corruption literally at his front door, yet we should support him? Seriously? Did he hit his head icecapading at MacArthur Skate Park?
I wouldn't vote for him. Although we folks don't get to elect the Council Speaker.
Can't wait for McGarodnickDonalds on the Oval.
11:10 am kind of has a point! He can't even deal with stuy!!!
He's a lot easier on the eyes than his opponent.
I'd personally like to see our homeboy grab the Speakership, but am pretty content with both candidates.
Why would anyone who lives here not want our native son as Speaker? What's the down side? What a bunch of sourpuss negatroid comments! Go Dan Go!
Choosing someone to be City Council Speaker just because he is a "native son" is a weak reason, I think. Rather, one should choose someone who is qualified enough, and who has enough fire in the belly, to deal with the city's problems. As I stated in my post, Dan still has to take out his garbage outside of his PCV building, over a year after Hurricane Sandy. Now, if he can't deal successfully with CWCapital, how can we expect him to deal successfully with the more significant problems the city faces? Aside from that, he's been a supporter of Big Real Estate, and a major hypocrite in being against extending term limits and then for the extension when his own job was on the line. I'd rather give Mayor De Blasio an opportunity to go full force with his choice, rather than present the speakership to Garodnick, admittedly a nice, pleasant man, but that's not what we need in the city at this point.
I see the TA president is really for Dan Garodnick as Speaker. How many Facebook threads is the TA going to have propping up Dan?
Could the supporters of Dan answer the following questions:
1) What does it say about Dan's influence in that he hasn't been able to get CWCapital to fix all of the problems created by Hurricane Sandy and still has to dump his garbage outside of his PCV building?
2) Is he not a major hypocrite in being against extending term limits and then using that extension to his own advantage?
3) Has he not supported the growth of high rises that mar the "postcard" nature of Manhattan, as in supporting "Vornado Tower" which will take away the view of the Empire State Building from the west? (Dan has, of course, received financial contributions from Vornado.)
4) After initially putting up a good fight did not Dan concede that CWCapital has a right to create business entities (ie, stores) around the Oval?
Garodnick just conceded to Mark-Viverito.
I don't know why there are so many pro-Garodnick posts on the TA FB page. Maybe because he's popular with constituents (70.2% of vote in 2013) or maybe to act as a counterweight to your regular as clockwork ant-Garodnick posts.
I just wish someone would respond to my questions about Dan? They should be easy for a Garodnick supporter.
He's an embarrassment to Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village. He pops up out of his whack-a-mole hole every few months to grab a headline then never follows through. Whack that mole once and for all!
I remembered one more thing about Dan that I wanted to mention. A few years ago, Dan put out a newsletter that was "green"--you know, printed on simple recyclable paper, wonderful for the environment. In that newsletter he touted everything green, including his newsletter. Well, guess what? Jump forward a year or two later, and the "green" newsletters disappeared, replaced by fancy high-glossy ones, that if green, were certainly more expensive and wasteful on the environment. I guess printing newsletters on simple recyclable paper wasn't flashy enough for Dan.
But, yes, he's a nice, pleasant-looking fellow who does say the right things most of the time.
Those weeping that Dan didn't make the speakership should note that Dan will be able to run for mayor if De Blasio and Company screw up the city in the coming years. Don't count Dan out. The man has ambition!
BTW, that NYU expansion plan in the Village that people were up in arms about and that just got halted by a Manhattan judge.... Only one city council member voted against NYU's plan. And it wasn't Dan.
There's a double=edge to people like Garodnick. He's smooth and ambitious and he knows his constituency. So everybody will get something out of him. But since he's really not loyal to any general approaches to policy, in the end he'll always do want he thinks is best for him. So in PCVST he knows that's an old guard down here. He grew up with that old guard. He knows these folks well. But he also sees that that CW is in the process of changing the demographics here so he thinks...do I go with the old guard (who probably don't like the new amenities and the green market) or do I go with the new guys who like the amenities and the green market and who probably represent the future. You know the answer. But New Yorkers are savvy. Garodnick thinks all the people don't catch on to what he's about. But they do. His possibilities are getting limited because of this. Maybe tries for borough president or public advocate are next. One way or another he has to show where he stands policy-wise. Doing what's best for Dan as a policy can only take him so far.
Steve Sanders had balls 100 times bigger than Dan Garodnick, who's actions have achieved about as much as any empty suit would have. He totally lost all cred AFAIC when he caved on the blatant commercial development of Stuyvesant Oval, contrary to all zoning code and then did nothing when it became clear that CW failed to enforce even the flimsy requirements that "accessory use" required them to comply with. So now the once bucolic Stuyvesant Oval is marred with a skating rink for 5 or 6 months of the year, a playground was taken away from residents, a cafeteria was opened that anyone can go into and use, and other spaces created that are money making endeavors for management. My opinion is that anyone who is waiting for a chance to buy their apartment, forget about it. It seems obviously apparent that CW has no interest in a condo plan, and is only interested in maximizing return for the bondholders. And IF by some slim chance they actually come up with a conversion plan, you can rest assured that there will be no cheap apartments for insiders. Thanks to Bloomberg, that ship has sailed, and Cap't DelBlasio won't be able to right its course. I had high hopes for Mr. Garodnick during those original tenant meetings when the Speyers raped the community into submission, but I now realize that there's little difference between him and the former State Senator Duane, who comically danced before tenants at every meeting and delivered zero to ST/PCV.
Good luck to all.
Last two comments: Spot on. Cheers.
http://town-village.com/2014/01/08/garodnick-concedes-in-council-speaker-race/
There's a photo on that link of Garodnick getting sworn in for his third term. I still can't wrap my head around how he can look at himself in the mirror and not see a hypocrite after he came out against a third term extension when the city council voted on the matter. But there it is!
Of course Susan Steinberg and the TA like Gardonick, he doesn't sunbathe topless in the oval.
Danny G got spanked today.
VOTE FOR DN GRODNICK I HAGENT LAIGHED SO HATD SONCE MY LAST APARTMENT INSOECTONG SNOOP ASKED ME IF I HAD HEAT. I WOULDNT VOTE FOR DAN GARONICK HE TALKDS THE TA
K BUT DOESNT WALK THE WALK. BIG STATEMENTS NO FOLLOW THROUGH NO THANKS
Do Dan and Sean Sullivan use the same dentist?
dear stuytownreporter
on your note about TA President facebooking his love for Dan , the TA president comes off as desperation to make something seem to be one way when its really another.
many of us stpcv tenants supported viverito for speaker and personally let her and mayor de blasio know of our stpcv support.
shame on the TA president for misrepresenting stpcv as backing dan for speaker.
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