[NYtenants-online] TenantNet Election Eve Picks

[Tenant]

NYtenants Online/TenantNet                                11/7/05
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Tomorrow is Election Day and the polls are open from 6 AM to 9 PM. Vote.

SEE BELOW FOR OUR PICKS FOR OTHER OFFICES AND REFERENDUMS

So if we had our druthers, we would vote for Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 
Too Damn High Party. Go to http://rentistoodamnhigh.org/

It would be so easy to send out our Election Eve email with the message 
"Vote for Ferrer" because "he will protect tenants and do another 101 
things we would like to see." It's not that simple and we can't really say 
that.

While the public may not pay attention until a week or two before an 
election, we lived this campaign for the last year to see where the 
candidates will take the city and especially protections for tenants and 
sustainable neighborhoods.

We believe Michael Bloomberg has been -- absent Rudy's mean streak -- as 
horrible a Mayor as Giuliani, taking the city in the wrong direction. He 
does not support tenants rights. His claim of affordable housing is fake 
and he's bent on destroying many of NYC's finest neighborhoods. Even if his 
housing initiatives reach the stated goals, most of it is luxury housing, 
gives developers enormous tax breaks and tears apart neighborhoods.

If you want to live in Disneyland, vote for Bloomberg. If you want to hold 
onto your neighborhoods, consider Fernando Ferrer. You might have a chance.

For more information on Bloomberg's REAL RECORD, go to 
http://mikebloombergsrecord.com

Bloomberg's campaign spending -- estimated to reach $100 million -- is 
obscene, but not as obscene as the Demapublicans who allowed themselves to 
be bought off by Bloomberg's millions. (we're not members of any political 
party, but we do feel the Democrats ought to have some principles).

We can't say that Fernando Ferrer is the anti-Bloomberg. In the last 
debate, Ferrer quoted his grandmother, "tell me who you walk with and I'll 
tell you who you are."

Many of the people Ferrer "walks with" are old-guard Democratic hacks who 
have screwed up the city, and who allowed the kingdoms of Rudy and Mike to 
rule for the last twelve years. He walks with Bertha Lewis of Acorn and the 
Wrecking Families Party (AKA Working Families) - who is advocating 
neighborhood destruction in Brooklyn.

He walks with the law firm Wachtel & Masyr, which represents Steve Ross of 
Related Co. (landlord, developer, friend and former business partner of Dan 
Doctoroff). Today he's walking with Christine Quinn who sold out her West 
Side constituents to further her ambition to be City Council Speaker. The 
list goes on.

While any major mayoral candidate takes money from the real estate 
industry, that in itself can be somewhat understood given the need to raise 
large amounts of money for a campaign.

But Ferrer doesn't "get" that which concerns people the most. It was only 
in the last two weeks that he returned to his "two New Yorks" theme from 
his 2001 campaign, and unfortunately the slogans now seem void of substance.

If you listen carefully, Ferrer did NOT say he was against the Atlantic 
Yards plan in Brooklyn that would displace and bulldoze Brooklyn 
neighborhoods. He said his would halt it for further review. He says he 
likes the alleged 50% affordable apartments, but the so-called Community 
Benefits Agreement was with groups financed by the developer!

While he  was against the Jets Stadium, he has not come out against Hudson 
Yards or the West Chelsea Plan on Manhattan's West Side that would bulldoze 
Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea. He's signaled support of creating 24 
skyscrapers in low-rise neighborhoods. That too was "arranged" by Bloomberg 
and Quinn using groups financed by developer banks.

He's said nothing about livable neighborhoods, holding on to small local 
"mom and pop" stores in the face of real estate pressures putting many of 
these stores out of business and replaced by noisy bars with drunken patron 
until 4 AM.

On the good side, he has said he would support the elimination of the 
Urstadt Law that keeps tenants from having local control of the rent laws. 
But he has not said he would do anything about cleaning-up the 
landlord-controlled Housing Court or DHCR corruption. While he said he 
would arrange for a tax rebate for renters, the amount of money isn't very 
much and would depend on Albany. It's a gimmick given the need to protect 
the affordable housing we have. He supports Inclusionary Zoning, but that 
is very dangerous and creates a net loss of affordable housing, rewards 
poverty pimps like Bertha Lewis's Acorn and creates huge skyscrapers.

Obviously we're not enamored by Ferrer. But consider another four years of 
Bloomberg and the choice is clear. It's a matter of degree. We don't think 
Ferrer's agenda would be as bold as Bloomberg's plan to tear down large 
parts of the city. He has some appreciation of tenants' rights. Even if it 
is wanting, there's room for some education ... we hope.

So we are urging our readers to vote for Ferrer in tomorrow's general 
election. He was the best of the four person Democratic primary. Fields, 
Miller and Weiner would have been worse. (despite his last-minutes surge, 
Weiner is a mini-Chuck Schumer who -- other than some noise in Washington 
-- is as bought-and-sold by landlords and developers as anyone else).

HERE'S SOME OTHER RACES TO CONSIDER:

COMPTROLLER:
Bill Thompson has no serious opposition

PUBLIC ADVOCATE
Betsy Gotbaum is an embarrassment and supported the Mayor's West Side plan. 
We urge a write-in protest vote. Consider Abe Hirschfeld (who died a few 
months ago). Vote for a Ham Sandwich.

MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Scott Stringer won the Democratic Primary and faces only token opposition. 
He may easily win, but his commitment to tenants and neighborhoods is in 
question.

COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
Christine Quinn has no opposition. We suggest the Ham Sandwich write-in.

COUNCIL DISTRICT 33
Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, or 
Williamsburg-Greenpoint
We recommend a write-in vote for Joy Chatel who is working to preserve 
Downtown Brooklyn from overdevelopment of office towers and opposing the 
abuse of Eminent Domain.

COUNCIL DISTRICT 35
Prospect Heights
Although Letitia James did not oppose Hudson Yards on the first go-round, 
she did on the second (one of four). She has worked hard to oppose the 
Ratner Arena Plan on the Atlantic Yards (despite the people at Develop 
Don't Destroy Brooklyn who while claiming to oppose Ratner's displacement 
but supported Eminent Domain and the Olympics elsewhere). She's one of the 
good choices (among many that are bad) from the Working Families Party.

BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Gloria Mattera of the Green Party, unlike Marty Markowitz, is not 
supporting the Atlantic Yards, the Williamsburg rezoning or Mike Bloomberg.

BALLOT PROPOSALS

New York State Ballot Proposal #1 -- which would give the legislature 
greater power in the state budget process. We urge a NO vote. While some of 
the opposition comes from those who would lose power (the Governor and his 
likely successor Elliot Spitzer), we see no need to give greater power to 
legislators who every year show us how irresponsible they are. Which is 
worse is hard to tell.

New York State Ballot Proposal #2 == the MTA Bond Act that would create 
$2.9 BILLION of new debt. While the bond act is being touted as a way to 
pay for mass transit, highways and improvements such as the Second Avenue 
Subway, we see if differently.

The $2.9 billion bond would be a small part of the overall MTA capital 
budget of $39 billion. The MTA is an agency that has wasted billions and 
ramped up huge debt already. Its downtown headquarters at 2 Broadway went 
from $150 million to over $500 million amid cost overruns, construction 
delays and corruption charges. This is the agency that took the low bid for 
the Hudson Rail Yards while hitting commuters with subway fare increases. 
More recently it took the low bid for the Atlantic Rail Yards.

In our opinion, the bonds are not for the 2nd Avenue Subway (and would pay 
for only a small part of it anyway), but to cover the shift for the money 
the MTA is spending on the No. 7 line to the Javits Center. Supposedly the 
city is paying for the No. 7 extension, but if the Hudson Yards bonds go 
belly-up (which there's a good chance that will happen) then the MTA would 
probably be stick with the cost. The MTA is using large amounts of agency 
resources (personnel, equipment, etc.) for the No. 7. While the city has 
money in the MTA Capital budget plan promised for the No. 7, that is masked 
by the city's reduction in contributions to the MTA from a high of $500 
million/year in the 1990's to now around $70 million.

Many of those in favor of the MTA bond act are ... developers and 
landlords. The state debt burden is floating around 20 cents on the dollar, 
the highest in the nation. New York does not need, and cannot afford this 
additional debt.

HOW TO WRITE IN CANDIDATES

You can write in at every voting booth in New York. There is no special 
line or special form.  Bring these instructions with you in case your 
polling site personnel don't know how to assist you with a write-in vote. 
Stand facing the ballot and look to your LEFT. You will see an unlabeled 
silver button.

When you push that button, it releases the slats below. There is a slat 
that corresponds to each office on the ballot. Depress the button and, 
while holding it in, open the slot(s) for the office(s) for which you wish 
to write in a candidate's name.

Also on the left is a box that contains a small pencil which you can use to 
write in your selection. You may want to bring your own writing instrument, 
just to be sure. You may write in for as many offices as you like.