Peter Vallone Jr.

Council members Simcha Felder and Peter Vallone Jr. are circulating a letter in support of re-instating the commuter tax.

The letter, sent to other council members, argues that reinstating the commuter tax and closing costly loophole in the state pension law are crucial to the city's budget. "[T]he alternative," the letter says, is "further cuts to city services and a proposed mid-year property tax rate hike."

The letter pits the commuter tax, which Democrats in the State Senate don't want to do, squarely against the property tax increase--which Democrats in the City Council don't want to do.

The letter, which was forwarded to me by an interested reader, is below.  read more »

Christine Quinn took a shot at Albany lawmakers (none by name) for passing a bill she says will weaken the city’s soon-to-be enacted law requiring stores to recycle their plastic bags.

“Yet again, it’s Albany taking away our power,” Quinn said in a brief chat with reporters in City Hall. “I fail to understand why the State Legislature wants to make New York City a less green city, and we urge the governor to stop them from doing that.”

It's an opportunity for Quinn, a likely mayoral candidate, to fight on behalf of the city. Likely rival Anthony Weiner has long been seen as more aggressive than Quinn, and another likely rival, Bill Thompson has unloaded a series of audits that are critical of the city on parks and education.  read more »

Here's a nifty example of extra-campaign profile-boosting for a couple of local office-seekers, in the form of an ad for the family law firm Vallone & Vallone, from the Queens Gazette.  read more »

This morning, the Water Board voted to raise water rates. This afternoon, the City Council held a hearing about proposed cuts to higher education.  read more »

 

Here’s Peter Vallone Jr. describing a yelling match he had with Michael Bloomberg outside City Hall just now over Bloomberg’s plan to open another power plant in Astoria.

“I said, 'What happened to your fair-share doctrine? When it came to waste transfer stations, everybody was responsible for their own garbage.”

Councilman Leroy Comrie is taking a hard line against the police officers and officials involved in the Sean Bell shooting.

Speaking to reporters after a press conference in Jamaica, Comrie said the Police Department should “remove the lieutenant, the commanding officer, the head of the division. They all need to be, I think, fired."

Later, he added, “We cannot look for the commissioner to do anything less than the full intent to show that he wants to have a professional Police Department with the best tactics and the best resources available.”  read more »

Leroy Comrie's April 19 "Women for Comrie" fund-raiser for his bid for Queens borough president raised $10,000 from 200 attendees, according to Comrie aide Rance Huff.

Comrie will need the money to compete with better-funded rivals like Peter Vallone, Jr. (who held one of his fund-raisers in the mayor’s home).

Sharp-eyed readers will notice Assemblyman Bill Scarborough was also there [identification corrected].

Peter Vallone, Jr., who said his colleagues “universally panned” Christine Quinn’s proposed budget reform, is welcoming the new vetting process for member items announced earlier today by Bill Thompson.  read more »

 

After the meeting last night between Council members and Christine Quinn, Peter Vallone, Jr. told me that he supports reforms, but not some of the specific ones that Quinn proposed last week. If she takes the advice of the council, Vallone says, “We won’t be giving up any power to the executive branch."  read more »

The only thing that has gotten City Council members more angry than when they found out Christine Quinn’s staff hid millions of dollars in the city budget by assigning it to phony organizations are the reforms she proposed last week to prevent the same thing from happening again.

Quinn proposed Friday to give the executive branch power over $20 million in the speaker's discretionary fund, which many Council members think gives up some of the relatively little power they have.

Today, Quinn faced an unhappy crowd of City Council members who “universally panned,” her plan, according to Peter Vallone, Jr., who spoke to reporters after leaving the nearly hour-long, closed-door meeting. “If we move forward on this, which probably is a good idea, I think we can improve things, we won’t be giving up power to the executive branch,” he said.

“Did anything that the speaker said change my mind? No,” said City Councilman Jimmy Vacca of the Bronx, who issued a critical statement as the meeting began. “I think that is a very significant consensus,” he told reporters.  read more »

Here’s part of the invitation for City Councilman Leroy Comrie’s April 19 fund-raiser, geared to female supporters. Comie is considered a likely candidate for Queens borough president.  read more »

Here’s a picture of Kevin Spacey and Tony Bennett with Peter Vallone, Jr., courtesy of his new campaign web site. Vallone, the chair of the City Council’s public safety committee, is stepping up his campaign activities with four upcoming fund-raisers over the next four weeks, starting with one tonight at Citrus (320 Amsterdam Avenue), to be co-hosted by by the Fordham Law Democrats.

On September 19th, Vallone is having a fund-raiser at Zodiac Café. Then, on October 2nd, a major fund-raiser at the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden and on October 9th, a fund-raiser at the Paparazzi Restaurant with Hispanic donors, according to a source close to Vallone.

The events are all taking placing in and around Astoria, which has a history of electing Vallones for some time, and, perhaps tellingly, the maximum contribution being accepted, according to a source, is $4,950: the limit for contributions under state law. Meaning Vallone may be eyeing a seat in the state legislature.

If he opts to run for something like borough president, as it's been rumored, the money exceeding the city limit can always be returned to donors.