Ending months of speculation, Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed he will not run for president in the 2008 election. And he did it with an op-ed in the NY Times, titled, "I'm Not Running for President, but..." The op-ed starts out with Bloomberg calling all the current candidates "smart" but believes "the candidates seem afraid to level with" the American public, because the candidates aren't offering "innovative ideas, bold action and courageous leadership" on issues like......

The proposed expansion of the Jacob J. Javitz convention center is essentially dead in the water as government officials admitted that the amount of money it would cost to undertake the project would not be worth the marginal return on investment that additional tax revenues would provide. Empire State Development Corporation chairman Pat Foye testified that about half of the expansion plan's $1.6 billion budget would be consumed just making repairs to the existing Javits......

Two bills are facing off in the City Council these days, pitting the rights of landlords against the rights of tenants. Both seek to end legal harassment of one group against the other. In one corner, we have the bill introduced by Council members Daniel Garodnick and Melissa Mark-Viverito. It seeks to curb harassment of tenants by landlords who withhold services (e.g. heat, disrepair) by allowing them to file restraining orders against their landlords. The......

Mayor Bloomberg has made ridding the city of illegal guns one of his administration's major issues (it's also a big part of his potential national platform). Last year, he, on behalf of NYC, filed two federal lawsuits against out-of-state gun dealers, after sting operations revealed that the dealers were apparently selling guns illegally. While some dealers have settled, others are fighting back, countersuing the city. The Bloomberg administration's sting operations involved two undercovers going to......

The Colbert Report got a double dose of the Bloomberg administration yesterday. Not only was Schools Chancellor Joel Klein the interview guest, there was a short bit about Stephen Colbert "interrupting" a mayoral speech in Times Square to ask Mayor Bloomberg to sign his cast. The Bloomberg video is above and video of Klein's segment is below. During his appearance, Klein discussed the city's cash incentive pilot program for the poor where family members......

Mayor Bloomberg returned from Sun Valley's media mogul conference to stump for his congestion pricing program at three churches yesterday. And today he's headed to Albany, as the congestion pricing program will be discussed by the Legislature. The Bloomberg administration has pointed out that the federal Department of Transportation is pretty willing to give $537 million in funding to NYC if the concept of congestion pricing is passed by Albany lawmakers, but the deadline for......

This morning, Governor Eliot Spitzer is announcing the sale of the West Side Railyards. The NY Times reports that the state and MTA will "formally begin soliciting bids for the development rights." Boy, does this bring us back to 2005. Of course, developers will need a boatload of patience and a boatload of money - the land was appraised last September to be worth $1.5 billion and it's estimated to cost $1 billion to......

If you think 911 is a joke, things may improve by 2009 if everything goes as planned. The Bloomberg Administration has unveiled a $1.5 billion plan to improve the emergency call system with a backup center and consolidation of 911 operators and dispatchers in two call centers. The city has previously attempted to overhaul the 911 system but delays and budget problems scuttled the plans. The current system has had its problems, shutting down four......

Oh no. Someone jumped in front of the F train at West 4th Street. Expect delays as service has been rerouted - from the MTA: Due to a Police investigation at the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station, the Brooklyn bound F train is running express from the 34th Street-Herald Square Station to the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station. The V train is running on the E line from the 5th Avenue-53rd Street Station to......

Yesterday, it was announced that Tishman Speyer's $5.4 billion bid for Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village was successful, making it the largest real estate deal in history. But what's interesting is that the second bid from Apollo was $5.33 billion. We wonder if Apollo executives are "What if"-ing right now. The bid organized by tenants to preserve middle-class housing was $4.5-4.9 billion - well behind the other bids - and City Councilman Daniel Garodnick, Peter......

Mayor Bloomberg will be giving his State of the City address today, and he's expected to introduce his "ambitious" second term agenda. Well, given his reelection campaign promises, could we expect anything less? The Bloomberg administration did release some of the initiatives in advance to the media, so here they are, culled from the NY Times and NY Post: - An accelerated World Trade Center development time table - New law enforcement and legislative measures......

While it seems unlikely a bill like this would ever get passed, but just the idea that the City Hall is considering some sort of toll for drivers to enter the city and create more congestion makes us excited. The NY Times looks at how various groups are looking at using congestion pricing in NYC to encourage people to use mass transit and carpools, versus driving their cars in and thereby promoting traffic, increasing......

So if you've been watching the marathon today you know where Bloomberg is (shaking hands at the finish line of course) physically, but how is he doing in the polls? According to a new ">NY1/Newsday poll he's doing very, very well. Not only does the poll have Bloomie trouncing Ferrer by a 32-point margin (along with having an approval rating of 67%) but it even has him kicking ass in hypothetical match-ups against Giuliani, Dinkins,......

Oh, boo hoo. The Bloomberg administration is asking the courts to let the administration be in charge of marketing deals, instead of putting any possible sponsorships through the Franchise and Concession Review Committee. City Comptroller William Thomspon had been critical of the city's deal with Snapple and a later court ruling said that any sponsorships would need to be reviewed, though the Snapple deal could stand. Newsday reports that a lawyer for the Bloomberg administration......

Mayor Bloomberg received the endorsement of a Democratic club in the Bronx, home of frontrunning Democratic mayoral hopeful Fernando Ferrer. The Northwest Bronx Democratic Alliance, which had endorsed Ferrer in 2001, threw their support behind Bloomberg, saying Ferrer lacked "fire" this time around. The Bloomberg campaign is thrilled to have the endorsement, even though the Bronx Democratic Alliance is small and fairly new; Ferrer's campaign points out that one of the Mayor's deputy mayors, Carol......

It's not the best week for Mayor Bloomberg. His West Side stadium gets poo-pooed, and now the City Council doesn't like his plan for trash! The City Council, led by City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, voted against the mayor's trash plan. The Bloomberg administration's plan was to ship the city's garbage via barges, in order to cut sanitation truck traffic, by creating/renovating marine transfer stations in the city. One was in Miller's Upper East......

Brooklyn community groups descended on City Hall yesterday, to protest the rezoning of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, and it seems that the City Council is on board, as it "threatened...to scuttle" the Bloomberg plan. The sticking points are that the Bloomberg plan includes a lot of development with a lot of tall buildings, and possibly not enough park space or low income housing. The Bloomberg administration counters that the plan has to be attractive enough for......

The MTA is supporting the proposed fare hike in March to bring some much needed money to the agency, which has a defict of hundreds of millions. Now, all that's needed is for the entire board, which includes appointees from Mayor Bloomberg (who opposes the fare hike), to pass the measure. Sigh. The MTA also says it will now put aside $200 million a year for a "rainy day." Puh-lease. While this idea is great,......

Well, Mayor Bloomberg may not let New Yorkers smoke most anywhere these days, but he is trying to let them dance: The Bloomberg administration is moving to repeal the cabaret law, turning the tide from the Giuliani era "quality of life" enforcement of the law. Bars and nightclubs can apply for 2 year nightlife licenses, provided they meet the following criteria: 1) Being louder than 90 decibels on a continuing basis; 2) Remaining open......

The Bloomberg administration is faced with deciding how best to change New York City's cabaret laws: While there may be possibility of simply asking clubs to apply for an updated license, some officials feel that would further alienate businesses (already hurting after the smoking ban). There are also community groups worried that wider access to licenses will cause more quality of life issues. At any rate, dance clubs will still need to be regulated by......