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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A Doggy Wedding for BP's



Here is a New York Post article about Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz but it is really about role of borough presidents. The article details some of the unusual events that BP's preside over -- such as a dog wedding -- and it sets forth the costs to run these offices. For example, they cost $23 million for staff and to operate their offices, they dole out $63 million in capital cash to their pet programs, and BP's pull down $160,000 in salary. Markowitz's office employs 66 people, including three chauffeurs, the most of any borough president. After their role was severely diminished with the 1989 elimination of the Board of Estimate, the article points out that "the role of a borough president includes appointing community board members, making budget recommendations, issuing advisory opinions on land-use matters and producing official maps. " What do you think about these offices?

19 comments:

  1. What do you think? Weren't you Carrion's campaign treasurer?

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  2. The borough presidencies are USELESS VESTIGIAL POSITIONS and a terrible WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY.

    It’s a shame that they weren’t abolished in the City Charter revision of 2010. Maybe next time?

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  3. The BPs are a huge waste of public funds. As the NY Post article notes, each year the 5 BPs spend:

    * $23 million for staff and to operate their offices.
    * $63 million in capital cash the beeps dole out to their pet programs.
    * $160,000 in annual beep salary.

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  4. It's a safe bet that none of these 5 people in the photo would ever make it to a leadership position in a major private-sector organization.

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  5. Who represents the interest of the outer boroughs? Face it, the Bronx doesn't get its fair share of attention at City Hall or Tweed. We are second class citizens. BPs serve an important role, in some cases those powers should be expanded.

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  6. The Borough Presidents remind me of the lamprey eel (that slippery little fish that clings to and sucks the blood of other fishes with its round sucking mouth)!

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  7. If you were inventing a city government from scratch, you would never create borough presidents. That’s why no other major city has them. It’s all so wasteful and unnecessary.

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  8. The betrayal of Mubarak (a moderate ally of the US) by American leaders is alarming.

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  9. It's misleading and ignorant for Anonymous at Aug. 3, 10:50 AM to defend the useless Borough Presidents by claiming that no other elected officials can effectively represent the interests of the Outer Boroughs.

    The Outer Boroughs are vigorously and effectively represented by a huge majority of the City Council. In fact, 80% of the Council Members are from the 4 Boroughs outside Manhattan.

    Here’s the math: There are 51 different Council Districts throughout the 5 Boroughs, and only 10 Districts are in Manhattan. So 41 Council Members represent the Outer Boroughs, which is just over 80% (or four-fifths) of New York City’s lawmakers.

    In addition, the electorate of the Outer Boroughs also happens to vote for the citywide offices of the Mayor, the Public Advocate (another useless post) and the City Comptroller.

    Second-class citizens who's interests can be ignored? I think not.

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  10. So if we look at the breakdown of council members, then clearly the out boroughs would get the lion's share of service but proportionately that is just not the case. Whether its school programs or snow removal or our local parks, the outer boroughs - the Bronx in particular - get screwed. How can anyone living in the Bronx say otherwise?

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  11. The lack of a high level of municipal services for in parts of the Bronx has more to do with the pathetic nature of some of the council members from the Bronx.

    You get what you deserve, especially when so few people actually vote in most elections in some of those districts.

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  12. There is only one City Council superstar in the Bronx: Jimmy Vacca. The rest are lackluster and cannot even distribute member items sensibly.

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  13. Possibly the worst thing that any Bronx Borough President ever declared publicly was when Rubén Díaz, Jr. said, "The notion that any job is better than no job no longer applies."

    Baby Díaz is not just an embarassment for the Bronx, he's a disaster!

    He killed a project for the Kingsbridge Armory that would have brought more than 1,000 construction jobs and 1,200 permanent jobs to a borough with the city's highest unemployment rate. Why oh why oh why???

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  14. So Wall St. has its worst day in almost 3 years as global markets plunge on concerns about Europe's debt crisis & US economic growth.

    Happy Birthday Mr. President.

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  15. Anonymous sure has a lot to say about Bronx and world politics.

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  16. Who is the most embarrassing of the BPs? I say Markowitz.

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  17. The sell-off is a buying opportunity!

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  18. The 5 borough presidents are basically 4 empty suits plus 1 empty dress.

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  19. each of them is a laughing stock

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