Jackson Heights Life

Curious to hear what folks think about eh possibility of the Mayor and City Council overturning term limits or at least extending them. I think it's a long shot, but should it happen that has a pretty big effect on local elections including our City Council reps Helen Sears an Hiram Monseratte. Thoughts ?

Curious to hear what folks think about eh possibility of the Mayor and City Council overturning term limits or at least extending them. I think it's a long shot, but should it happen that has a pretty big effect on local elections including our City Council reps Helen Sears an Hiram Monseratte. Thoughts ?

Term limits!  It seems more like musical chairs with the pols rotating through elected office every couple of years.  It might be more productive if some of them got real jobs for a while.

He should just run for governor.

I'm not sure how appropriate it is to talk my politics here, so pologies in advance if I overstep a rule, but I am no fan of Bloomberg.  Any parent of a school aged child shouldn't be.

Under his "watch" (and with his mayoral control, he among all past mayors has the most culpability in any school shortcomings than any other), the schools have cut services for special needs kids drastically, created redundant administrations that make DOE stffing budgets "top heavy" (which in turn means less teachers can be hired, which in turn means larger class sizes), and too many other things to get into.

Now granted, Rudy wasn't much better, but he didn't have the mayoral control Bloomberg did (and actually ran on as a platform in 2001).  But here's the less political point:

In 2001, in the wake of 9/11, when Rudy went to being a hero (and no argument, he was good for the city dealing in that situation), there was talk of extending his term, even just a few months, or easing the new administration in with Rudy involved in some sort of capacity.

The most vocal opponent to that?  Then mayor-elect Bloomberg, who basically said that the law was the Rudy was out on Jan. 1st (2002).

NYC is no longer a democracy. It is a monarchy.

Did any one watch Helen Sears cast her vote. She said her office was inundated with phone calls, they were unable to use their phones and she actually felt threatened. Despite an intense amount of pressure from her constituents she opted to ignore them and vote for the term limit extension.

Bloomberg may be a good mayor, but he has already won a third term without spending a dime. The City Council's vote was nothing more than an endorsement for his third term. How does this not fly in the face of democracy and choice for New Yorkers when any contender for the office has already been out spent and out endorsed ?

Christine Quinn came to Jackson Heights to march in the Halloween Parade.  This week she gave away candy; last week she away our democratic form of government.   

I hear ya Rob on not wanting to approach electeds at certain times. But, we have to remember these people really do work for us, our taxes pay their salaries. These public appearances are probably the best way to directly access them and make sure they really hear what we have to say. Typical channels like letter writing or calling and office are often dealt with by a staffer / intern and never really make it directly to the ear of the politician. Sure, they get a report saying this many people said that etc. But it's a lot easier to ignore a piece of paper than it is a constituent standing right in front of them.

Ont he flip side there is no need to scream and yell at these people either, no matter how much we may want to. I have found that a simple "Hello, Mr./Ms. politician, I am a Voter / constituent / tax payer and I am very disappointed / very pleased with your vote on such and such" seems to work. The more we confront our elected, maybe they'll be more inclined to actually listen to us. Unlike Helen Sears who was "intimidated" by her constituents who called and asked here to vote against the term limit extension.