Speaker Quinn supports Mayor's extension proposal

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (District 3) declared her support for extended term limits for the Mayor and City Councilors saying it would help in this time of economic uncertainty.

In a statement released on October 12, followed by a press conference, Quinn asserted she wanted to give New Yorkers a choice of re-electing their representatives to the City Council and Mayor's office or throwing them out in next year's elections. But opposition to the measure has been considerable.

A Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey of New Yorkers done earlier this month showed that while a majority supported an extension in term limits for the Mayor they were not willing to give the same to City Councilors.

"After extensive conversations with my colleagues and careful deliberation, I have decided to support the legislation put forward by Mayor Bloomberg to extend term limits from two to three terms," Quinn said.

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Bloomberg at nonpartisan summit implored White House contenders to change tenor

Issuing a call for "national unity," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a nonparti san summit on January 7 implored the 2008 White House contenders to change the tenor of presidential politics but insisted that fielding an independent candidate isn't how they want to do it.

"The focus of our meeting is not to stop any candidate or to start any candidate, it's to be a catalyst," said University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former senator and an organizer of the summit, which was held on his campus.

However, Boren -- much like Bloomberg has over the past several months -- fanned speculation even as he seemed to be dismissing it. "Our two-party system has served us pretty well. We just need to get it working again," he said. " ... I hope it won't come to a necessity of people like me and others having to push someone like Mayor Bloomberg to run."

For his part, Bloomberg offered a carefully phrased denial when asked how he might bring the country together if he were "to run for higher office."

"Well, look, I'm not a candidate, No. 1," he said. "... What has happened is that people have stopped working together. Government is dysfunctional."

Although the event drew 17 prominent Democrats, Republicans and independents -including former senators, governors, ambassadors and cabinet members -- the spotlight shone most brightly on New York's billionaire mayor and the prospect of him waging a self financed presidential bid.

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Article taken from the issue: 11 Jan 2008

Fighting hunger and malnutrition in our city

You can join, too. Until January 4th, please drop off non-perishable food items at any firehouse or police station. They'll go to City Harvest, a great non-profit group that we work with all year long to supply New York's emergency food programs. And call 311 to find out how you can volunteer in the fight against hunger. It's a great way to give back to our city, and to make the true spirit of the holiday season come alive. T here's just no room for hunger or malnutrition in the world's greatest city. That's why every day, faith-based organizations, community groups, and men and women of good will all work hard to relieve hunger in New York. So does our City government; let me tell you about two new steps we've taken to help New Yorkers in need feed their families.

First, we're immediately allocating an extra $1 million to more than 500 soup kitchens and emergency food pantries around the city.

These community-based organizations provide food to nearly 900,000 New Yorkers every month. We're injecting more funds into these programs now because their expenses have grown. In part that's because of inflation; it's also because these programs have started stocking more nutritious foods that cost a bit more.

The result: Today's emergency food dollars only buy about 80% of the food that they did just four years ago.

The extra money we're now providing to the City's "Emergency Food Assistance Program" will buy about 1.3 million pounds of canned goods or other meal ingredients.

These funds actually come from the Federal government. They're part of a package of bonuses the City has earned for improving our management of the Food Stamp program.

During the past four years, we've made our Food Stamp application process simpler and more convenient, and we've also greatly reduced fraud and abuse. Because of those reforms, we now can make this important investment in our soup kitchens and food pantries.

We're also improving the way that New Yorkers find out where and how they can get emergency food. In the past, when people called 311 with such requests, they got connected to an automated information system.

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Article taken from the issue: 7 Dec, 2007