Donny Moss & Hans, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Marie Flageul
Photo of the day: PERSON(S) OF THE YEAR – DONNY MOSS AND THE TEAM OF JONATHAN MERES (ONE) COHEN AND MARIE FLAGEUL
– I have not ever had such a hard decision to come up with just one person to say they had most affected my life and the lives of the people around them. In such a tumultuous political year it has to be three people, Meres and Marie acting as one force. And by NO means choosing three people does it diminish in any way how important these three powerful people are.
DONNY MOSS:
I feel can be held responsible for almost single handedly destroying the political career of mega powerful New York councilwoman and bully Christine Quinn. She is a bully that represented every horrible thing that Mayor/dictator Bloomberg had done to destroy New York City in his 12 years in office. It is Quinn that alone saw to it that the laws were ‘changed’ so that Bloomberg could run for a third term in 2009 against the will of the people. With that, the slaughter of the middle class and it’s neighborhoods continued. This took New York City from 3 classes of citizens: lower, a strong middle and always upper class to a tapestry of investment bankers, real-estate developers, and Russian oligarchs. Then Donny’s release of a 2009 YouTube video exposing her two-faced betrayal of her own (she’s a lesbian) gay community and her horrific anti-animal rights stances exposed her to New York City. The most important and powerful was his documentary “Christine Quinn – Behind the Smile.” Most people thought Donny was nuts, an animals rights fanatic. Well that changed quickly as his persistent voice released more and more videos and more and more people began to listen.
When Gray Line was forcing the live tour guides (me) out of our jobs in favor of pre-recorded tours, because of a Quinn fake anti-noise bill, Donny sought me out to let me know of his fight against Quinn. I dismissed him as a fanatic, after all, Quinn couldn’t possibly be THAT horrible . . . she was worse. I listened to Donny and I jumped on board with Donny’s fight, the tour guides joined and my big mouth got many people to join Donny. Wonderful, wonderful loving animal rights activist groups and anyone that hated Bloomberg and wanted to save NYC joined us. We protested at everyone of her public appearances and taunted her mercilessly. Our numbers grew, as did our budget. We handed out flyers during rush hour at subway stations, bus and ferry terminals. My mother was one of his staunchest supporters, never leaving her house without Donny’s literature to hand out in the neighborhood. People began to listen and the animal rights people, the minorities, the middle class and passionate celebrities formed an army. ABQ = Anyone But Quinn! People like Cynthia Nixon, Susan Sarandon and the entertainment community brought their fame, money and passion to the public’s eye. These people already hated Quinn, but I insist that is Donny’s persistent, passionate, intelligent voice from the beginning opened everyone’s eyes. Quinn’s poll numbers began to plummet from leader of the mayoral race to 3rd or 4th place, week after week.
On November 5, 2013, Bill de Blasio won the mayoral election by a landslide, receiving over 73% of the vote and will become the first Democratic mayor of the city in nearly 20 years. Thank you Donny Moss for giving me my city back!
M+M, JONATHAN MERES (ONE) COHEN and MARIE CECILE FLAGEUL:
A forceful team, together they ARE 5 Pointz/ “the institute of higher burning“, the curators of the leading world’s graffiti and street mural art museum and mecca that was destroyed by the cruel vindictive whitewashing of the building in the middle of the night on November 19 of this year by Gerry Wolkoff. Words almost fail me to describe the incredible joy and privilege I have of being their friends. My heart is so deeply full of the pleasure they have brought to the entire world through their tireless efforts to have made 5 Pointz bigger and better year after year. I had come for years as an enthralled neighbor to support the saving of 5 Pointz. Then it then dawned on me that as a tour guide, this was the ultimate New York experience to bring my guests there as a surprise last stop. Over the years I had gained Meres’ and Marie’s trust by never betraying them or their art, by never pretending to be anyone else but someone who passionately loved this mesmerizing art. I thrived on the surprised looks on my tourist guest’s faces as they approached the loading dock and where overwhelmed by the fantastic colors and phantasmagorical art work. I felt like a million dollars sharing this with them.
Marie fiercely defended the illegal filming on the site, but saw to it that has been included in countless films, music videos and blogs. Meres saw to it that fellow writers and artists respected the sight and oversaw all the murals that would dazzle your imagination, resulting in world wide recognition as the premier street art museum. 200,000-square-feet (19,000 m2) of dazzling imagination from all over the world. Meres’ signature light bulbs are now recognized all over the world. Did you know that if look up any travel guide, 5 Pointz is listed as the #1 thing to see in Queens? – you can thank the brilliance of Meres and Marie for that. Meres’ 5 Pointz tours via SideTours was their #1 attraction and would sell out rapidly when new dates were announced. You felt so very special taking his tour, plain and simple = it was just so fucking cool! New York City owes them a big commission check for all the tourist money they brought to New York, Queens and especially Long Island City.
But one of the most powerful gifts they have given to so many and I have been lucky enough to receive, is their bringing together one of the most diverse group of people from across the city and the globe who otherwise never would have met and shared such passion, joy and fun. Art unites, art opens your eyes and hearts, art can even save lives. Meres and Marie united the world through the brilliance of Meres’ artful vision and Marie’s passion. To say “thank you et merci” almost doesn’t seem enough . . .
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December 31, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2013 mayoral election, 2013 New York mayoral race, 5 Pointz, 5 Pointz Graffiti Museum, ABQ, animal lovers, animal rights activists, anti Bloomberg, anti Quinn, ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, art saves lives, art unites, Bill DeBlasio, Bloombergistan, Christine Quinn, Christine Quinn - Behind the Smile, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, Cynthia Nixon, destruction of New York City, dictator Bloomberg, Donny Moss, Gerry Wolkoff, Gray Line tour guides, Gray Line Tours, Hans Von Rittern, Hans' person of the year, Institute of higher burning, Jonathan Meres Cohen, Long Island City Queens, Marie Cecile Flageul, Marie Flageul, New York City, New York city tours, New York photo, Person of the Year 2013, phantasmagorical art work, photography, politics, Queens, Quinn Behind the Smile, Side Tours, street art, Susan Sarandon, the premier street art museum, whitewashing of 5 Pointz | Leave a comment
Photo of the day: 9/11/2013 SO MANY LOSES / SO MANY GAINS (and…karma is a bitch!) – On this day in New York when we remember the over 3,000 loses of loved ones at The World Trade, a work place I once called home on the 102nd floor, we also last night gained so very much back! A dedicated group of individuals who sought to stop the hemorrhaging of this city, banded together and defeated one of the most corrupt, cold hearted, and scheming politicians since Boss Tweed in 1853, councilwoman Christine Quinn last night.
Weiner’s goodbye
Donny Moss and 91 year old Natasha
The mighty Quinn: For the past twelve years, Quinn and Bloomberg have systematically destroyed New York City as the city has become a city of the über rich and the very poor, 45+% now live near or at the poverty level. We have lost over 12 hospitals during their term in office, glass luxury apartments replace them. Quinn ruled the city and controlled the zoning laws with her slush funds making the city open season for the greedy real estate developers as zoning law changes have become the norm. South Street Seaport’s Pier 17 is being torn down, neighborhoods like Harlem, Greenwich Village and Soho are loosing their soul. Her tearing down of St. Vincent’s Hospital, it’s church and the 9/11 memorial is the most egregious. As the years passed, she became the most powerful politician only second to Bloomberg, a power that was had by vitriolic temper outbursts and control of the city funds.
How much is that doggie in the window? To show her lack of character, she was against all animal rights activists to the point of refusing to pass a bill that would now make it mandatory to require sprinkler systems in pet shops. Let the puppies and kittens burn, along with the workers.
Daniela and ABQ friends
Karma is a bitch! In 2011, I lost my Gray Line tour guide job of seven years thanks to Quinn. She single handedly destroyed the double decker tour guide industry by pushing through a ‘headset bill’ in order to please a few well heeled residents of Greenwich Village who had complained that tour guides on the open mics were “too loud”. The original bill did not provide for the headsets to be connected to a live tour guide, me. Councilwoman Gail Brewer added the proviso in the bill that a live guide must be giving the tour. Since Twin America the monopoly that owns the double decker tour bus companies City Sights and Gray Line are heavy contributors to her Christine Quinn’s campaign, miraculously the ‘live guide’ proviso was taken out of the bill in the middle of the night. No sound tests were ever done as required. I headed a group called “Keep New York Live” and protested at every TV station and at city hall with the help of my fellow tour guides. On the final day of our fight we had a twelve noon rally planned on the steps of city hall. No press showed up. At 12:15 I called friend and transit reporter Greg Mocker of WPIX11 and asked ‘where you all?’ Greg’s response “well it’s canceled isn’t it? Quinn said it was canceled.” The bill passed with Quinn’s single authority. Over 200 tour guides were no longer ‘allowed’ to come to work or were given insulting low buy out packages. No work, no health care, nothing.
Well Ms. Christine Quinn – karma is a fierce bitch. YOU took MY job away in 2011 and now I have taken YOUR job away in 2013 ! ! !
2011 TOUR GUIDE PROTEST at NBC STUDIOS
The heir to the throne: With an arrogant sense of entitlement as covered in the New York Times, she also had the ’empty chair syndrome.’ At many of the local mayoral forums chairs were set up on stage for all the mayoral candidates, hers – was usually empty. If she did deem to show up, her head never looked up from her blacberry.
NEW YORK TIMES AND PRESS COVERAGE
The cowardly lioness: Donny Moss became the monkey on Christine Quinn’s back, she could not leave her house without Donny trailing her as he held up his signs and calling out the truth about her record. No matter what camera angle she tried, there were either Donny or the ‘ABQ’ people behind her. It came to the point that Quinn would not enter any venue through the front door, she had security sneak in her the back door for fear of bad publicity photos and press. What sort of beginning is it to your term as office when you run and hide from your public? Too yellow, spineless and cowardly to face your constituents.
The awesome DONNY MOSS & DANIELA watching DeBLASSIO’S victory
Rag tag group takes down Quinn – Crazy cat ladies, people who dress up their dogs, horse lovers, gay activists, passionate New Yorkers like the incredible Donny Moss, Arthur Cheliotes, Allie Feldman & Wendy Kelman Neu formed groups “Defeat Christine Quinn” and “NYC Is Not For Sale” respectively which then morphed into the “ABQ – Anybody But Quinn” campaign, unprecedented in New York’s political history. We canvassed subway stations every night, manned phone banks and hounded Quinn wherever she made and appearance, Donny Moss being the most wonderfully persistent of all of us! In that time Quinn went from leading in the polls by wide margins to plummeting weekly. No greater plummet than election night when, as other candidates percentages went up….hers went down from 26% to 18% to an embarrassing 15%.
Brian Gari “cat calls” republican mayoral candidate Catsimatidis
Picture election night: Each candidate had their large expensive venues filled with their high paying donors and political strategists in their expensive suits with the media tripping over them. Yet here we were, in a little bar called Mustang Sally’s on the west side, fifty of us in the back room, in our sweaty t-shirts and jeans, none of us rich, only rich in passion and conviction. It wasn’t the Bloomberg/Romney-like dollars that Quinn had, it wasn’t all the New York newspaper’s endorsements, it wasn’t the political pundits who said she would win, no, it was the people with pet hair on their now iconic red ABQ (Anyone But Quinn) t-shirts that had all the might. It was volunteers like 91 year old Natasha and my 87 year old mother Ursula. We have changed the course of New York’s history. Never underestimate the passion and the anger of the crazy old cat lady!
AUNT MIA AND HANS
DONNY MOSS AND HANS VON RITTERN
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September 11, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2011, 9/11, 9/11/2013, Allie Feldman, animal cruelty, animal lovers, animal rights activists, ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, architecture, arrogant politicians, Arthur Cheliotes, Bill DeBlasio, boss tweed, Boss Tweed in 1853, Brian Gari, City Sights tours, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, crazy cat lady fights city hall, Defeat Christine Quinn, dog lovers fight city hall, Donny Moss, Gail Brewer, gay activists, Gray Line tour guides, Greenwich Village, Gregg Mocker, Hans Von Rittern, Harlem, headset bill, horse lovers, job loses, KARMA IS A BITCH, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mustang Sally's, NBC, New York City, New York is not for Sale, New York pet shop sprinkler law, New York photo, pet lovers fight city hall, Photo of the day, politics, September 11 2013, South Street Seaport, St. Vincent's Hospital, The New York Times, Twin America, Ursula Von Rittern, Wendy Kelman Neu, World Trade Center, WPIX11 news | Leave a comment
87 year old Ursula Von Rittern, defiant voter!
Photo of the day: 87 YEAR OLD MOM DARES TO STRIP AND VOTE IN HER BRA! – Today in election district 29, Sunnyside, Queens my mother walked into the voting station Queen of Angels Center and was stopped at the door for wearing an “ANYBODY BUT QUINN” T-shirt. We were met by a barrage of volunteers and police who said there is to be no “electioneering” inside the voting area. Mom argued she wasn’t saying anything, or handing out any literature, simply expressing her freedom of speech in the shirt she chose to wear.
The angry old white woman who seemed to be the woman in charge said “You’ll have to take it off or leave.” “I thought this was a free country?!” mom angrily argued. “I came here from Nazi Germany where I could not say or do as I pleased, nor vote. Now YOU are going to tell me what to do?! Well, I am not walking all that way home again, then I’ll take it off!” (I had a t-shirt under mine, mom didn’t. The photo here is not from today.) Mom asked me to hold her cane and then to hold her steady. Her hat came off first, then her shoulder bag. She fumbled to look for a place to place her hat and bag.
Uncomfortable curious stares went around the room. Was this woman about to flash the room?! It looked like she would as she asked me to help her lift her shirt over head. As the first signs of an 87 year old woman’s midriff made an appearance, one of the other volunteers ran over and yelled, “Ok, ok, don’t take off your shirt, just lift the bottom part so you can’t see the name Quinn.” (As IF that would sway anyone’s vote at that moment!) So . . . in a very ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ fashion, mom flashed her midsection as she walked slowly across the floor to her voting station to the high five signs from the black volunteers in the rooms, some giving her a hug before she entered the booth. Mom pulled the levers, DeBlassio all the way, turned, pulled the t-shirt down to reveal the name Quinn, exited the booth and defiantly said, “what are you going to do, throw me out?!” and slowly with her cane walked across the room to the cheers and applause of the people inside! (Unfortunately the police made sure I took no pictures.) That’s MY mom! GO MOM !
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September 10, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2013 mayoral election, 87 year old topless voter, ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, Bill DeBlasio, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, defiant senior citizen voter, District 30, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, Queens, senior stripper voter, Sunnyside | Leave a comment
IN THE 2009 PRIMARY ELECTION – 11% OF NYers VOTED !
IN THE 2009 MAYORAL ELECTION ONLY 26% OF NYers VOTED!
YO HAVE NO RIGHT TO UTTER EVEN A WORD ABOUT POLITICS IF YOU DO NOT VOTE TODAY!
VOTE – OR PUT UP!
V O T E ! V O T E ! V O T E !
ANYBODY BUT QUINN !
(deBlasio happens to be my choice)
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September 10, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, Bronx, Brooklyn, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, deblasio, do your duty !, HELP SAVE NEW YORK, low voter turnout, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City, New York photo, New York Sept 10 primary vote 2013, Photo of the day, put up or shut up!, Staten Island | Leave a comment
Premier issue July 28, 1983
Mondays on Memory Lane: SOUTH STREET SEAPORT, A PROUD VON RITTERN HERITAGE – In 1983 my mother was the private assistant to Clifford Day Mallory of the Mallory’s of Mystic. It is the Mallory family that established Mystic Seaport in Connecticut and has 3 museums named after them there. As a proud New Yorker Mr. Mallory greatly believed in preserving the sea faring heritage in New York’s harbor and helped establish South Street Seaport. Mr. Mallory and my mother Ursula worked with Frank O. Braynard one of the founders of South Street in arranging the design, funding and publicity. They even elicited the help of famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. For my mother, working on this project was a matter of great pride in her heritage – my great, great and great grandfathers were sea mrchants, traveling to the far east and Africa to bring back riches to Germany. (My grandmother had the only pineapple anyone had ever seen in 1905 Hamburg, Germany!) Therefore opening day on July 28, 1983 was a proud day for our family and for New York.
It is today, thirty years later, that is a horrible unthinkable day as Pier 17, the steel pavilion that has greeted millions of visitors since opening day, will be torn down thanks to developer greed aided and assisted by our destructive Mayor Bloomberg. A modern sleek glass box soul-less shopping mall will replace it.
He has destroyed more historical districts through zoning variances and under the table deals during Bloomberg’s term in office than with any other mayor in this city’s history. He has done more damage than 911. His crony and ambitious puppet councilwoman Christine Quinn wants to be voted in as Mayoral candidate in our local primary tomorrow.
ANYBODY BUT QUINN – HELP SAVE NEW YORK !
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September 9, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, CLIFFORD DAY MALLORY, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, current-events, destruction of South Street Seaport, founders of South Street Seaport, Frank O. Braynard, Hans Von Rittern, July 28 1983, Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mystic Seaport, New York City, New York photo, Pier 17, politics, premier issue of South Street magazine, South Street Seaport, Ursula Von Rittern | Leave a comment
September 9, 2013: The last day of South Street Seaport’s Pier 17
Photo of the day: ENJOYING THE LAST DAY OF SOUTH STREET SEAPORT’S PIER 17 – Due to the destructive re-zoning laws that have blanketed New York, today is the last day to enjoy the rustic building that was built to blend in with the charm of what once was South Street Seaport. The gabled roofs, the cast iron railings designed with industrial wire, the rustic red paint on the wavy (mirroring the ocean) sheet metal walls, the wooden decks from which you can promenade along, the weathered gray wooden deck chairs that silently sit awaiting for you to put your feet up and relax and watch the world go by.
Perhaps you’ll eat your Nathan’s fries and hot dog while strolling around the three decks, or go the Beekman Bear Garden Beach Club to watch the sunset on the North Side of the pier. Today will be the last sunset from Pier 17. The last hot dog from the food court, the last souvenir bought by the myriad of shops and the last beer at sunset.
You can thank our despicable greedy Mayor Bloomberg and his councilwoman Christine Quinn who re-zoned the South Street Seaport area and have given the greedy callous go-ahead to have it all torn down in favor of a glass box mall.
R.I.P S.S.S.
ANYBODY BUT QUINN FOR MAYOR !
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September 8, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, Beekman Bear Garden Beach club, Brooklyn Bridge, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, East River, gray wooden deck chairs, Hans Von Rittern, Last day at South Street Seaport, Manhattan, Manhattan Bridge, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Nathan's hot dogs, New York City, New York harbor views, Photo of the day, Pier 17, re-zoning laws, Seaport closing September 9 2013, South Street Seaport | Leave a comment
South Street Seaport 2013
Photo of the day: THE DESTRUCTION OF SOUTH STREET SEAPORT – The ever changing skyline of Manhattan is about to change again, the beloved South Street Seaport also known as Pier 17, thanks to the ever greedy Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is about to be torn down at the end of September. FINAL DAY OPEN IS THIS MONDAY SEPT. 9th.
What will replace it? A big soulless glass box (mall) with a red letter sign atop of it “South Street Seaport”. You wouldn’t need big lit red letters screaming “Seaport” to remind people of where you are if you have removed any vestige of our once great seaport’s history. One of our old sailing ships the Peking will soon cease to exist for lack of funds to repair it, that will leave us with on single solitary ship in what once was the greatest and busiest harbor in the world. Our Mayor Bloomberg and his cohort councilwoman Christine Quinn should be tarred and feathered and drummed out of New York for destroying our seaport’s heritage.
Anyone But Quinn for mayor!
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September 5, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 8 Spruce Street, ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, Beekman Tower, Christine Quinn, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, destruction of South Street Seaport, Hans Von Rittern, Manhattan, Manhattan skyline, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mayoral 2013 campaign, New York by Gehry, New York City, New York photo, old sailing ships, Photo of the day, political greed, South Street Seaport, The Peking, Woolworth Building, World Trade Center | Leave a comment
CYNTHIA NIXON, HARRY BELAFONTE, SUSAN SARANDON
Photo of the day: ACTIVISM IS BEAUTIFUL FOR CYNTHIA NIXON, HARRY BELAFONTE AND SUSAN SARANDON – Since we have lived under the greedy dictatorship of Mayor Bloomberg and councilwoman Christine Quinn – we have lost
TWELVE, possibly 14 hospital since they have been in office for the last 12 years!! St. John’s hospital on Queens Blvd, where I was born – closed. St. Vincent’s Hospital, founded in 1849, took in the only survivors of the Titanic in 1912. It was at the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in Greenwich Village, was first in line to take in the 9/11 victims and lastly took in the passengers from ‘the miracle on the Hudson’ in 2009.
With the voracious greedy appetite and financial payoffs from the real estate Goliaths, the Rudin family, Quinn eased the hospital into becoming luxury condos. She tore down the hospital, the church and the 911 memorial with it so that all memory is gone!
Mayor Bloomberg who acts as the über nanny in not allowing 16 oz sodas to be consumed by New Yorkers, controls what New Yorkers eat under the guise of being concerned for our health, has looked the other way as 12-14 hospital have been shut, turned into condos or are not admitting new patients. This is the reality of our mayor – the city of Bloombergistan.
Councilwoman Christine Quinn wields single handed power to control our laws and see to it that Bloomberg gets his way, if, as a fellow councilmember you vote against her, the funding for your district is cut off or reduced. I could go on.
There is one mayoral candidate who has been at all the protests, getting arrested and is speaking up for the inequality of the Bloomberg greedy years – Bill DeBlasio. In the last few months we have literally been in danger of loosing one hospital a week! This genocide of the middle class is alarming. If New York City were to have another hurricane Sandy or another terror attack – where are the ambulances and hospitals for us to go to?! This is a ticking time bomb. There are some who have the passion to speak out and say ‘enough is enough.’ These are the wonderful New Yorkers such as Cynthia Nixon, Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and mayoral candidate Bill DeBlassio.
On Monday August 19, we all rallied outside the remains of St. Vincent’s hospital in hopes that under a new leadership, the rape of our citizens and it’s hospitals will stop.
ANYBODY BUT QUINN!
BILL DeBLASSIO FOR MAYOR!
SUSAN SARANDON
When Cynthia Nixon speaks – Susan Sarandon listens!
TWO PROUD MEN
WHAT THE FUCK?!
SARANDON THUMBS UP
SAVE OUR HOSPITALS
PROUD CYNTHIA NIXON
NURSES AID
LOOKING AT ST. VINCENT’S
CYNTHIA NIXON PROTESTS
DEBLASIO AND BELAFONTE
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August 20, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2013 New York maoral race, 9/11 memorial, AIDS epidemic, ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, Bill DeBlasio, Bloombergistan, Christine Quinn, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, Cynthia Nixon, Defeat Christine Quinn, Greenwich Village, Hans Von Rittern, Harry Belafonte, hospital closings, Hospital closures, hospital rally 8-19-13, luxury condos, Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mike Bloomberg, New York photo, Photo of the day, politics, rudin family, St. Vincent's church, St. Vincent's Hospital, survivors of the Titanic, Susan Sarandon | Leave a comment
ANYBODY BUT QUINN !
Photo of the day: ANYBODY BUT QUINN! – To my country wide and international readers, this may seem like a localized issue, but it is sadly not.
I as a tour guide lost my job in 2011 at Gray Line tours, the double decker bus company soley because of councilwoman and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn. How it came to be: two men complained that the tour guides could be heard on Greenwich Avenue in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan. It is a main commercial thoroughfare with the now gone St. Vincent’s hospital across the street with their blaring sirens going all night. Bars line the street that play European soccer matches till 4am in the morning. A grade school play ground is across the street, all that noise, but we were too much. A “headset bill’ was instituted by Christine Quinn with a sound test to be done, it was never ever done. Councilwoman Gail Brewer insisted to insure the tour guides jobs, a proviso be included in the bill that the headsets be connected to a live guide, that was done. But — Twin America is the monopoly that owns both the double decker bus companies (the blue City Sights and the red Gray Line) wanted the ‘live guide’ proviso taken out. Why pay for my health insurance and salaries when you can have a recording do it for free? In the middle of the night Quinn took out the live guide proviso saying “it isn’t necessary.” You see, Twin America has always contributed heavily to her political campaign.
The guides protested at all the local TV stations with our slogan “Keep New York Live.” My dear friend and anti-Quinn champion Donny Moss joined in. At our last gasp rally to be held at noon on the steps of City Hall, no press showed up. When I called a local TV reporter friend of mine asking where the press was, I was told Quinn had told everyone the rally was canceled. The bill passed. Oddly enough, any guide that had been seen protesting try to save their jobs were not fired but simply not ‘allowed’ to come to work anymore – I was one of them.
Councilwoman Christine Quinn wants to be mayor of this city. She is the puppet of Mayor Bloomberg. During their time in office, New York City has lost many hundreds of long time established restaurants, shops, bars, schools, hospitals, parks, and memorials for the sake of greedy real estate greed to build “luxury” apartment buildings than that of any other political team in the city’s history. We tour guides get almost daily notices of yet another hospital, restaurant or long time establishment closing due to doubling rent – yes double. Doubling rent on businesses has become the norm, leaving only the chain stores to survive. Zoning variance – the norm, Quinn rubber stamps them, the money goes in her pocket. The hospital I was born in is gone. Also St. Vincent’s hospital that took in the only survivors of The Titanic was at the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, was first in line to respond to the 911 victims has been torn down by Quinn. But – that was not enough, St. Vincent’s church was torn down as well and the 911 Tiles For America Memorial across the street has been torn down too, to assure no memory is left of the site. If she becomes mayor, there will no “New York” left for you to see. Quinn/Berg plan to completely surround Grand Central Station with bulging sky scrappers. The Chyrsler Building will be hardly seen anymore! None of these building plans take into consideration that our electrical grid is already stretched to the max. Instead of protecting our shores from the rising sea level and future hurricanes, Bloomberg and Quinn build, build, build more glass boxes for instant profit, chain stores take over and screw the future. She herself changes the laws to fit her monetary gain. This is how dictatorships start.
QUINN IS GAY FOR PAY! Touting herself as the breaktrough first gay mayor of NYC – she has not voted for ONE pro-gay bill or legislation, not one. But on gay pride day – she runs to the front of the parade waving her arms in the air. GAY FOR PAY!
I have joined Donny Moss and the ‘Defeat Christine Quinn’ and ‘ABQ’ campaign. HELP SAVE NEW YORK. I will vote for New York, I will vote against corrupt Christine Quinn!
I am fighting hard for the ANYBODY BUT QUINN campaign. If you are a New Yorker, please read on to inform yourself of her devious record. . .
In 2011, New Yorkers working on the campaign to educate the public about Christine Quinn’s record had a busy year, with more than 20 protests at her public appearances and 2013 campaign fundraisers. Before the 2009 City Council election, many people in her district told us they were planning to vote for Quinn. Once they looked at her record, however, many were just as dismayed as we were. These voters who paid closer attention are part of the reason Quinn struggled to win re-election in her own district. We believe that our campaign made a difference, and we intend to have a more profound impact in the 2013 election for Mayor. In the meantime, Quinn continues to give people new reasons to join the movement against her:
Human Rights
On December 2, the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center released its 2011 NYC Council report card, which grades Council members on their “record in promoting the human rights of New Yorkers” during the previous 12 months. Christine Quinn received a D+, the second to lowest score. To quote the report: “Both the political power of the Speaker and the reticence of the Council Members to challenge it are inhibiting the advancement of human rights in New York City. The power of the Speaker has delayed hearings, stalled votes and restricted the passage of legislation.”
Example: As Michael Powell wrote in the October 10, 2011 New York Times, “A year ago [City Council] members tried to push through a living wage in the Bronx and to mandate a few sick days for workers. [Christine Quinn] ensured each effort ended up baled, tied and set by the BQE for early sanitation pickup.”
Abuse of City Funds
The Speaker position concentrates an extraordinary amount of power in the hands on one person. As Speaker for the past five years, Quinn has abused that power to advance her political career at the expense of the democratic process and the public she alleges to serve.
Among the most powerful weapons in Quinn’s arsenal are the discretionary funds—tens of millions of dollars that Quinn doles out to reward campaign donors and loyal Council members and withholds from Council members who challenge her agenda. As Jason Farago wrote in a December 15 editorial in The Guardian, “Quinn is not only the most powerful legislator in the city; she’s pretty much the only legislator in the city, and from her perch she has nearly unilateral control over lawmaking. She decides what comes to the floor… and her caucus votes for it, or she makes them pay.”
Example: In March, Quinn strong-armed Council members to vote to rename the Queensboro Bridge in honor of former Mayor Ed Koch. Months later, in December, Koch endorsed Quinn for Mayor—two years before the election. A poll found that a majority of voters (64 percent) opposed renaming the bridge after Koch, and Council member Peter Vallone Jr., of Astoria, spoke out against it. Quinn responded by cutting Vallone’s discretionary funds by $600,000.
To put this political stunt in historical context, the Triboro Bridge wasn’t renamed after Robert F. Kennedy until 40 years after his assassination.
Term Limits
On October 4, Clyde Haberman of The New York Times observed in a piece entitled “Like Putin, Like Bloomberg” that Russia’s Prime Minister “was more scrupulous about observing the niceties of term limits than were New York’s political leaders: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his Medvedev equivalent, Christine C. Quinn….” With the help of “complaisant council members,” Haberman wrote, Bloomberg and Quinn “simply changed the law to reward themselves with third terms.”
After the 2008 slush fund fiasco destroyed her chances of becoming Mayor in 2009, Quinn needed four more years to improve her image. But her role in overturning term limits has only further damaged her reputation.
Real Estate Ties
As Kate Taylor reported in the January 5 New York Times, Quinn has already raised more than $4.9 million in campaign contributions. The vast majority of donors who have made the maximum legal contribution of $4,950 to Quinn’s campaign are real estate executives, as are many of the campaign bundlers who have raised more than $20,000. In return, Quinn advocates tirelessly for real estate developers at the expense of her constituents. As WestView readers know, Bill Rudin is planning to build 450 luxury condos on the site of St. Vincent’s Hospital, in Quinn’s district. True to form, Quinn has publicly stated on several occasions that the Lower West Side needs a full service hospital while helping pave the way for Rudin to erect his condos. As of July 2011, seven members of the Rudin family had contributed a total of more than $30,000 to Quinn’s campaign, which may help explain why Quinn not only refused to advocate for tapping into millions of dollars in available reserve funds that might have helped save St. Vincent’s, but also refused to support a community effort to keep the St. Vincent’s site zoned for community use.
Animal Welfare
In its 2009 City Council scorecard, the NY League of Humane Voters concluded that the “biggest obstacle to more humane laws in NYC is the inexplicable opposition to animal welfare legislation by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn,” who has “attacked virtually every effort in the Council to make life better for animals, despite claiming in letters to concerned citizens that she cares about animal welfare and even ‘supports animal rights.’”
Not only has Quinn killed every substantive animal protection bill introduced into the Council, but she has also fast-tracked several meaningless bills that make her look like she’s helping animals when, in reality, she’s only helping herself politically.
Example: A majority of New Yorkers support a ban on horse-drawn carriages. Quinn does not, and she has killed legislative efforts to take the carriage horses off the streets. But in an effort to make herself look as though she cares about the welfare of the horses, Quinn fast-tracked a bill in 2010 that was filled with fake reforms such as banning carriages operators from working below 34th Street, where they don’t work anyway, or between the hours of 3:00 and 7:00 a.m., when no customers are out. The purpose of the bill was to grant carriage operators a rate hike, but Quinn only touted the fake reforms in the press, giving the impression that she’s an advocate for animals when she has been just the opposite. In 2011, at least seven carriage horses collapsed, tripped, spooked and died in midtown.
In January 2011, Quinn fast-tracked another bill that makes it illegal for New Yorkers to chain their dogs outside for more than three hours. Quinn admitted that the bill is unenforceable, but she held a press conference promoting this meaningless bill, again giving New Yorkers the impression that she cares about animal welfare.
In September 2011, Quinn fast-tracked another bill that erased a law requiring a city-funded animal shelter in every borough. She did this as a favor to Bloomberg so the City could dodge a lawsuit demanding that it fulfill this obligation. (Shelters are desperately needed in The Bronx and Queens.) Rather than being honest about the purpose of the bill, Quinn added language to it mandating increased resources for existing shelters, thereby making a step backward for animals look like a step forward.
Quinn’s Campaign
How much of Quinn’s campaign is being funded by NYC taxpayers? In the last election, it was a fair amount. In an article in the August 20, 2009 Village Voice, Elizabeth Dwoskin reported that 31 of Quinn’s “more than 90 volunteers” were in fact paid staffers, though Quinn’s spokesperson claimed they were doing the work on their own time.
Quinn has a vast amount of taxpayer-funded city resources at her disposal for her campaign, including a chauffeured SUV. She has the support of Mayor Bloomberg, his paid consultant Ed Koch, the Democratic Establishment and the LGBT community. She has a bully pulpit as Speaker and has the Mayor inviting her to speak at high profile events. But perhaps that’s not a bad thing, because the more potential supporters are exposed to her, the more chances they have to see how much there is about her candidacy not to like.
On our side, we have the truth about Quinn’s record; a public that is becoming more informed about her; several other viable candidates for Mayor; and the will to fight to restore ethics, fairness, democracy and humanity to NYC government.
My 87 year old mother canvases our local street handing out fliers to anyone that will listen – so do I.
See you in the streets.
http://votequinnout.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DefeatChristineQuinn
For more information, see Donny Moss’ documentary “Christine Quinn: Behind the Smile” on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uhR3-8xK6s
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August 2, 2013 | Categories: DAILY PHOTOS WITH STORIES OF NEW YORK CITY | Tags: 2103 New York City mayoral race, 9/11 memorial, anti gay, ANYBODY BUT QUINN ABQ, “Christine Quinn: Behind the Smile” on YouTube., Christine Quinn, City Sights tours, Councilwoman Christine Quinn, current-events, Defeat Christine Quinn, destruction of New York City, Donny Moss, double decker bus monopoly, Gail Brewer, Gray Line Tours, Greenwich Village, Hans Von Rittern, headset bill, lesbian mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, Mike Bloomberg, New York City, New York photo, Photo of the day, politics, St. Vincent's church, St. Vincent's Hospital, Tiles For America, Twin America | Leave a comment
NEW YORK CITY - IN THE WIT OF AN EYE 