Four months ago, my wife's uncle was killed in a hit & run accident on a Manhattan street. The killer was never caught.

I wrote to DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall and asked for a simple accounting of Hit & Run statistics. This should be available on nyc.gov and 311. It's not difficult for the DOT to compile. It should be the DOT's job.

Someone here at Room Eight (a person who works for the DOT?) promised that it would take a long time, but I'd get something. I have not received anything from the DOT. Every week (or day), I read about another hit & run story in the press.

Sunday's New York Times article, "New York Library Officials' Pay? Shhh," is a long overdue brief look at the NYPL. The NYPL is a typical New York City nonprofit--overpaying top executives, underpaying the regular staff, and with a too-cozy relationship to local government.

I spent over ten years of my life in the New York Public Library, usually the 42nd Street branch. Using the NYPL, I solved the origins of "the Big Apple," "the Great White Way," and the New York "Yankees;" wrote a New York City dictionary-type website; and co-authored and contributed to numerous books.

Here it is, on YouTube, from a televised interview with Bill Maher. Yes, Schumer was joking when he said that all anti-Semites are Republican. But it's simply not OK for the senior senator from New York to make a bigot-like comment in public, and then laugh it off.

Over at the Daily Gotham, they think Chuck Schumer is God!

L

The NY city council voted to increase their own salaries. Shocking!

Here in Texas, the Austin city council did the same thing. The Austin American-Statesman was shocked at how swiftly this came about. I was shocked that the voters were given SEVEN ballot questions last week, for this and for that, but city council salary was not on the ballot.

Why can't the employers (the people) ever have any say in the salaries of the people they employ (politicians)? (Supposedly employ--politicians work only for special interests, not the people they serve.)

Always put salaries on the ballot for a vote! It's the only fair way to do it.

Follow the money. In the first week in November, Andy Cuomo received $33,000 each from these good citizens of South Carolina (NYS Board of Elections records):

ANDY'S MYSTERY MARINA JOB

Interesting tid bit in the NY Post (not a rag I have much confidence in personally):

You're the state comptroller, you steal $175,000, lie about the amount by over half, and (when caught--twice) you then pay it back. If you resign from office, you can avoid all theft charges? Does anyone else in the state get this kind of a sweet deal?

From Fred Dicker in Monday's NY Post:

November 13, 2006 -- TOP state Democrats say scandal-scarred Comp troller Alan Hevesi is ready to resign from office to avoid indictment by Albany County District Attorney David Soares.

"Hevesi's hope is that Soares will forgo prosecution if he agrees to step down," one of the state's most influential Democrats told The Post.

For EnWhySeaWonk, courtesy of the Metropolitan Republican Club (I kid because I love):

The Metropolitan Republican Club, New York City Fire Department and The American Red Cross are sponsoring a CPR Class on

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
7:00PM – 8:30PM
at Metropolitan Republican Club
122 East 83rd Street (bet Park and Lex.)

The Sunday New York Times offers suggestions in its regional editorials for the GOP to get up off the mat. For the most part, the advice is obvious and common-sense. The NY editorial is the most poorly written--NY's GOP has always had Rockefeller Republicans and has never been far-right. When NY's Republicans act like Democrats, they do even worse. For me, the main Republican issues are security (post 9-11) and fiscal stability (avoiding bankruptcy and attracting businesses).

The editorials are these:

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