Since the heat is on the City Council's budget practices, specifically its use of slush funds and creating fake groups to collect money, Mayor Bloomberg released details about his own, uh, slush fund. Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler issued a memo noting reforms plus details of the Mayor's discretionary funds. Per the Daily Politics, it explained how "the mayor himself controls a pot of cash...for which Council members and borough presidents can apply during budget negotiations......

With the City Council's budget practices coming under fire as the slush fund scandal continues to simmer, Speaker Christine Quinn introduced new, tougher rules to reign in discretionary funds. Any community groups or organizations who want more than $25,000 in Council funds must get "pre-clearance" to make sure it's a legitimate group--versus one fronted by Council staffers--and making sure all the details (which member sponsors the group, the tac ID, etc). Even though these are......

Yesterday, the police were called during a charged meeting that saw the City Council approve Harlem rezoning in a 47 to 2 vote. Opponents of the plan yelled "sellout" and "liar," prompting their removal from the Council's balcony. The plan will usher in new development around 125th Street, with denser and taller buildings. City Council member Inez Dickens, who represents the area and decided to approve the plan after the Planning Commission agreed to make......

The City Council is set to pass a law requiring that homeowners keep 20% to 50% of the property in front of their homes covered with greenery. The law is in response to a trend by homeowners to cut down trees or pave over their lawns in order to create parking spaces. Even famous realtor Barbara Corcoran chimed in on the matter last year in a real estate column that she writes for the Daily......

As the City Council reels from slush fund mess and other budget scandals, the NY Times found more 12 of the 51 City Council members, or approximately 25%, were using campaign funds to pay relatives or themselves. One aid to familial lining of pockets is the fact that taxpayers are filling campaign war chests with cash, even when Council Members are running unopposed or face barely credible challenges. For instance, Larry Seabrook, representing the Bronx,......

Photograph from East 51st Street by gattogrosso212 at flickr Here's a big WTF: Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the City Council yesterday that plans for 303 East 51st Street, the site where a crane collapsed into surrounding buildings and caused the deaths of seven people, were accidentally approved by the department. Apparently the 43-story building's design didn't comply with zoning requirements for the area, and Lancaster "blamed the error on the unnamed plan examiner."......

Two former staffers under City Council member Kendall Stewart were "arrested and charged on mail fraud and money laundering charges" from the U.S. Attorney's office, according to WNBC. Asquith Reid, Stewart's former chief of staff, and Joycinth Anderson are accused of misappropriating "hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funds for their personal gain." According to the indictment, $356,000 was put into the "Donna Reid Memorial Education Fund"--home address at Reid's house--in 2005. And money......

Embattled City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has decided to proceed through the ongoing city slush fund scandal with the guidance of a defense attorney. Federal and City investigators are looking into the allocation of millions of dollars of budget money to fictional organizations. That money was then funneled to private groups, who often kicked back funds in the form of campaign contributions. Council Speaker Quinn said that the practice dates back to before her tenure......

In the wake of revelations that the City Council had a slush fund (for rainy days when the mayor would cut budgets), City Comptroller William Thompson told City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that his office would review how the council uses discretionary money. In a letter, he wrote, "It remains clear…that the Council’s process was conceived and used to deflect legitimate inquiry into how our City’s tax dollars are being allocated.” The NY Times plays......

Last year Mayor Bloomberg announced a $3 billion plan to seize 61 acres of the Willets Point district next to the forthcoming Citi Field in Queens through eminent domain, raze it, and construct 5,500 units of housing, a hotel, convention center and over 2 million square feet of office space, restaurants and retail shops. But business owners in the target zone have been fighting it, saying their ‘hood, dubbed the Iron Triangle for its chop......

City Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Queens) broke news of her pregnancy to the Post today. And she landed on the cover because she conceived via in vitro fertilization, she's single, and she is running for City Comptroller next year! Katz, who is 42, is due in June. She told the Post:"This is a decision that I felt if I didn't do, I would regret for the rest of my life," said Katz, who acknowledged her situation......

In the wake of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's admission that her finance staff allocated money to fake groups, details are emerging about where the now-resigned top finance staffers now. And it turns out former finance director Michael Keogh, managed to get a job with big lobbying firm Bolton James (here's his bio), which is where Emily Giske, a friend and supporter of Quinn, is a partner. A City Hall insider told the Daily News,......

What was supposed to be a rainy day now seems more like a category 3 hurricane fund, as the story of the City Council's practice of distributing money to fake community groups unravels. It turns out that since 2001, $17.4 million has been allocated to the fake groups, with $4.7 million set aside in 2007 and 2008. At a press conference, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn explained she learned of the practice last spring and......

Democratic lawmakers in Albany seem poised to block Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which attempts to reduce traffic by charging drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours. Though the plan was approved by the City Council on Monday, a “lively, sometimes emotional” meeting between state lawmakers yesterday ran over three and a half hours, and approximately 30 of them expressed opposition to the plan, with only four or five in favor.......

Streetsblog has this terrific map (created by the Pratt Center for Community Development) illustrating the City Council's votes for and against congestion pricing, and laid NYC highways, subways, and commuter rail options over it. The surprising votes, according to Streetsblog, are Council members Mathieu Eugene's and Bill de Blasio's because few of their Brooklyn constituents (2.4-3.7%) drive to work, as well as Council members Diana Reyna (Williamsburg) and Peter Vallone (Astoria) since their districts......

Mayor Bloomberg was beaming when he, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other City Council members gathered for a press conference to hail the Council's approval of congestion pricing last night, 30 votes in favor to 20 against. Bloomberg, who introduced the idea of charging drivers entering Manhattan (at 60th street or below) a fee, said, "The sun is shining on New York City's future today." He also lavished praise on Quinn, noting her "principled......

Mayor Bloomberg appears to have the necessary votes to get congestion pricing passed in the City Council, because the Council scheduled a vote on the matter for this afternoon. The fact a vote has been suddenly scheduled is interpreted as a sign that fellow supporter Council Speaker Christine Quinn has enough votes for approval. The Mayor must have spent his weekend bending ears and twisting arms! A critical amendment was made to the statewide version......

Even though New York City has around 98 monikers, did you know that there is no official city nickname? The Village Voice reports that one Queens Councilman, Hiram Monserrate, is ready for that to change. Monserrate wants us to officially stake claim on the "Gotham City" title, and is pushing the City Council to designate it as our chief nickname (preferably before The Dark Knight is released this summer). He says, “I see that as......

Dennis Gallagher, the married City Councilman representing Queens who was accused of raping a constituent in a drunken encounter last year, announced his planned resignation after pleading guilty to sexual abuse and forcible touching. Last summer, a 52-year-old woman alleged that she met Gallagher at a bar in Queens and after a night of drinking went with the Councilman to his district office, where he raped her. Gallagher's office was searched by police and DNA......

Facing a veto threat from Mayor Bloomberg on an electronic waste recycling bill, the City Council is removing part of the bill that would require manufacturers to collect for recycling a portion of the electronic goods they sell in the city or face fines. While Bloomberg is generally in favor of the recycling bill, he contends the provision places an unfair burden on manufacturers. New Yorkers generate approximately 25,000 tons of discarded electronics every year.......

Real estate developer Sheldon Solow's plans for a sextet of glass towers along the East River just south of the United Nations complex is rumored to be close to gaining approval of the City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Subcommittee on Land Use. A following vote by the entire Council will dramatically transform the East Side waterfront below the United Nations. Solow plans on building six massive glass towers for both residential......

A NY Times survey shows City Council members, if they were to vote today, oppose the congestion pricing plan 2-1. Which means it's not just Albany legislators that Mayor Bloomberg has to politick to get his congestion pricing plan passed. Congestion pricing has been a centerpiece of Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative, a program to ensure the city's sustainability in the year 2030. A lot of transit-related planning hinges upon the millions expected from congestion pricing;......

Plans to renovate and repair the City Council half of City Hall, which is divided between the Council and the Mayor's offices, are proving to be so complicated and expensive that the project has already been handed from one city agency to another and the cost estimates are ballooning. The Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services, which oversees City buildings, deferred to the Dept. of Design and Construction when it realized how complex the renovation of......

A proposal by City Council Member Hiram Monserrate would give hybrid car drivers free parking at meters for a year after their initial purchase. If the legislation passes, drivers with receipts for hybrid cars could apply for the permits, which the Queens councilman says would cost the city little in lost revenue, because the taxes from new car sales would make up for the quarters lost at parking meters. But Council Member John Liu, chairman......

Since New York developers love to put on a happy face while spinning their architecture plans to the public, Lost City has made a translation guide so it's a bit easier to follow along. Here are a few key phrases:Statement: "Our design is meant to respect the historical and architectural context of the neighborhood." Translation: "This building is not as big and ugly as we'd like it to be." Statement: "We support the approval process."......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliot Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

"The Blue Wall of Violence" courtesy of MoCADA Yesterday, The Daily News printed an article that began, "A cop-bashing art exhibit at a taxpayer-funded museum in Brooklyn portrays the city's Finest as trigger-happy racists who have put bull's-eyes on the backs of black New Yorkers." The exhibit is a retrospective of the artist Dread Scott's work called "Welcome to America," and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) is calling the paper out......

The Mayor and City Council are facing off over housing regulations that could lower barriers to low-income tenants receiving federal housing vouchers to subsidize their rents. The City Council is attempting to pass a law which would make it harder for landlords to refuse Section 8 tenants, but Mayor Bloomberg just vetoed the Council-passed law. The vouchers fall under the law known as Section 8, which many landlords prefer not to get involved with, citing......

Yesterday, the Post reported City Councilman Dennis Gallagher, the Queens politican accused of raping a woman last summer, was offered a plea deal that would "keep him out of jail and off the sex-offender registry" and possibly force him to resign office. Gallagher, who has maintained the sex (which occurred in his Queens offices) was consensual, was indicted by a grand jury last summer, but the indictment was dismissed last month, because the judge felt......

Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council may not agree on the appropriateness of cell phones in public schools, but the DoE is now handing out cell phones to a select group of students. The privately funded pilot program will give cell phones to students and reward positive behavior, such as showing up to class, behaving and doing well. In an ironic twist, the Samsung phones will not actually be allowed in class, per Mayor Bloomberg's......