Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Friday, March 7, 2014

De Blasio Caves To Eva

That didn't take long, did it?

City education boss Carmen Fariña retreated in the charter schools fight on Friday, saying the city is now searching for space for Harlem students whose high-performing charter school was evicted from a city building by Mayor de Blasio last week.

It is a complete turnaround from Wednesday, when Fariña said the city would not find seats for the 194 distraught children from the Success Academy charter in Harlem.

“As of right now we’re looking for a space to put the children who would be displaced,” Fariña said in a live television interview on “Good Day New York” on Friday. “We’re looking for an additional space where we might be able to accommodate the Success Academy kids.”

It was not immediately clear if the city would try to relocate the school’s entire student body together, or find students seats at city public schools on an individual basis.

Fariña’s surprise vow to accommodate the scores of kids whose charter school will be booted from city classrooms in June is a marked reversal from a press conference earlier this week when she said the kids were “on their own.”
The rookie schools chancellor disavowed those comments on Friday. “I shouldn’t have said it,” Fariña said. “The reality is I had just come off a meeting where I had done a lot of things and they stick the mic in your face. But did I mean it? No.”

The lesson we learn from all of this?

Bill de Blasio is a weak mayor and can be rolled.

It happened with the fake snow plow scandal on the UES and now it has happened again with the Eva Moskowitz/Success co-location.

I'm going to make a weather prediction here, a la Al Roker.

De Blasio is finished - he's a one term mayor, he's going to be rolled again and again and again by the corporate overlords and we'll have a Republican mayor (or a Republican in Democrat clothes like Andy Cuomo) in four short years.

I'm also willing to bet the one group that doesn't roll de Blasio is the UFT leadership when it comes to contract negotiations.

But that's just the cynic in me talking.

Given de Blasio's track record so far, maybe even the UFT leadership can roll him. 

22 comments:

  1. Hey,
    Great post as always. If he can be rolled, then he can be rolled either way. There is a reason he i s supporting protests outside City Hall. I think the children who attend overcrowded schools in trailers should have one too.

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    1. No, he's going to get rolled one way - and that's the corporate way. Protest outside City Hall or in Albany only matter when the press suns with them day after day after day. They're not going to cover protests over trailers or overcrowded schools. 10 seconds on FOX right before the laxative commercial. That's what you'll get. So I'm not optimistic that this goes anywhere good. When I saw what Farina said this morning on FOX, I decided I'm off the bandwagon for good. I'm not defending somebody who won't defend himself.

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  2. Before we write him off, keep in mind that he and Carmen have had all the big guns pointed at them, including Meryl Tisch, from the Regents. She basically told Carmen to find seats for those students. BUT, from what I have read, Eva got only that one victory. Not the other two schools. AND, she might not like what she got. And it may be a one-time victory. Shelley Silver has made it clear that the Assembly won't support co-locations unless Cuomo and his Republican friends in the Senate vote for more school aid. Personally, I think Carmen in the long run will come across as a hero and Eva will come across as a harpy. Also, we may have a lawsuit in the works again against the other co-locations. By the way, someone should publish an ad in the Times with the names of all the people associated with Eva who have contributed to Cuomo's campaign--$400,000 worth.

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    1. Nahh - complete cave. You can't overturn three Bloomberg co-locations, take a week of heat from the press and Cuomo and Eva and then waffle with ANY of the decisions. They waffled today and that's a loss - in perception if not in actual policy. Personally I think it's a loss in both. BdB should have been ready for the onslaught Eva was going to bring. It's like he and Farina were surprised by it or something. I'm not impressed by either their political acumen or managerial skills. Managing perception in politics MATTERS - these people around de Blasio can't do it. And he can't do it himself either.

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  3. Unfortunately...I hit this one right the other day..."Now lookie here...El Duomo Cuomo only can pull off these "brilliant" political maneuvers, or appear to do so due to support of "the media". Conversely...the message to Mr. Mayor from "the media" so far has been-"we will make every day you are in office a living nightmare if you dont play ball with your masters"...Anotherwords, we will crush you like an ant under a steel boot if you dont get with the program". Just one small example was the the "Speedgate" issue-a completely contrived bit of bull , which created more heaps of bull critiicism toward Mr Mayor. That went on for a week or more. Just like "all ATRs are failed teachers"...DeB can quickly be portrayed as a clown any time the big swinging dicks choose to do so...Ya know what kiddies...Mr. Mayor will play ball...or be squished like a bug by the Bloombergs,Murdochs,Lord Blankfeins ` hedgies of the world..."

    After they were done with Mayor DeB ...they then started to make Carmen UFT to be a shaken clown..."The media" has the power to make,you...or break you....no matter how sleazy their tactics are....sad....really sad...

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    1. I agree, he'll either cave to what they want or they'll continue to destroy him. I suspect that we'll see him take a hardball stance on union negotiations - that'll make the papers and oligarchs happy and get them off BdB's back.

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  4. Once again, Juan Gonzalez came through on our side in the Daily News today ("Listen, it isn't personal--it's just fairness") and Bertha Lewis, formerly of Acorn, wrote an op-ed piece, "Cuomo turns his back on city kids." I always preferred John Liu as the true Progressive, but on the other hand, I think the media and corporate interests are doubling down to destroy De Blasio.

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    1. Well, they had already destroyed Liu, with the help of the US attorney's office. Got Liu's bundlers for thousands in campaign finance fraud. Somehow they missed Bloomberg's millions in finance fraud with the Independence Party three election cycles running...

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  5. I met some people in city government the other day and they said that the difference between the de Blasio admin and Bloomberg -- with respect to stop and frisk and HRC is phenomenal -- like night and day. I wouldn't be too quick to condemn -- see the link at the Nation (on Education Notes Online).

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    1. None of that matters if the perception spreads that he is ineffectual and weak. And that's what we have happening right now. Any good that he intends to do will be undone by the meme that he is Dinkins Redux.

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  6. Yes...précisely. Mayor DeB is nearly a 180 from Bloomturd in policy, or hopes to but if "the media" continues to perform their destabilization on him and his staff, he is done...well,done. I watched poor Carmine backtrack on that TV interview with Ray Kelly's son yesterday, and ever so subtly, they're making her into an ineffective, old, and poor choice by Mr. Mayor who may even regret "coming out of retirement." "The media" in a free democracy should be at least partially consist of true investigative journalism. Instead we get selective hit jobs, character and professional assasination on selected targets of the plutocracy-while approved subjects receive fluff and softball coverage. The NY Rags have already published an article stating that Mayor's approval ratings are something like 29 or 39 percent? So, by a thousand cuts, or a baseball bat beat down, they've already minimized and degraded this new administration two months into his tenure. Don't forget, the Ed plutocracy didnt want Carmen Farina as a boss either. I wouldn't be surprised if she's gone by the start of next school year...not surprised at all. What "the media" does can be subtle in framing their targets. Look at that picture of Carmen the night of the storm, when she made the "it's a beautiful day" comment. The Rags chose a picture of her scurrying to her car. I think the blurb underneath the pic described her as " a scowling Carmen Farina" or some such. She must be horrified already of ever taking this job. Although now, since she's backtracked on Eva...expect a few daisies tossed her way. Maybe that will save her, but the point of course is...if the plutocratic owned "media" decides to turn up the heat in drip or full bore fashion, Benjamin Franklin could be framed as a loser. That cable box, and the toilet paper formally known as The Press, are the henchman for the plutocracy. The public , if foolish enough to subject themselves to this sewer, are the patsies. This is a nightmare, zombie state-however well fed and entertained the sheep .

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    1. Yes, she has been depicted in the media as a doddering old fool. But just as BdB has helped with his depiction of weak and ineffectual by playing into that type, Farina has helped with the doddering old fool type by saying things that make her sound like a doddering old fool.

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  7. Then again...there may not be any "daisies" for Carmen...it's not enough that she gave into Moskowitz. Farina is now being called a flip flopper by the toilet people. Instead of being praised for doing what the plutocracy demanded...she's attacked further. I doubt she's going to be around much longer. A feigned illness or two, and she's out the door.

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    1. I agree - they will go for the jugular because they know they can. BdB and Farina flinched and caved in their standoff with Eva. The message is clear - they are weak and can be rolled. We'll see this again and and again now.

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  8. A hollow state is a state which is generally considered to have the appearance of a properly functioning democratic nation or state. This state or nation has democratic elections, government laws, rules, regulations and standards. It has an agencies, police, taxation, ministries and a military. What it does not have are the aforementioned acting in the best interest of the public but rather supporting the interests of autocracies, dictators, oligopolies, special interest groups and kleptocracies.

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    1. Can't get more hollow a state than America circa 2014.

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  9. The NY Post has done a non-stop war against de Blassio and Carmen. The NY Daily News has allowed some editorials supporting deBlassio's education agenda re charter schools. The NY Times has been somewhat fair. Let the smoke clear, and find ways to get the truth out there. These two have taken on very wealthy giants who are driven by corporate greed and political power. They don't have the support of the president or their own governor when it comes to charter schools. Both Obama and Cuomo suck up to the Big Boys.You didn't really expect all of those people to roll over and play dead, did you?

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    1. The Post started well before the election and have never let up on him. They will either destroy him or turn him to their ends - that is the goal and that is what will happen. I was hoping they would be out of business before we got to this, since they're teetering on the edge in the "new" News Corp., but alas, they are still around and doing damage.

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    2. I should add that if de Blasio won't fight back against the "big boys" (as is clear he will not - both the UES snow plow fakery and this Eva mess have shown that), there is no point to defending him from this side. I don't know who he's got working his press shop, but I have heard the complaints from the press on the Twitter that they're second rate. Judging by how the Bdb administration responds to the pseudo crises they've faced so far, I'd say second rate is a generous description.

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  10. The electronic "media" , tv...has also been on the attack, not only the toilet papers. There is no need for the Times to kill off Mayor at this point, since other sources have already done so. Check out the NY Times' record in Ed reporting to date...they are completely an Ed reform partner.

    "The media" creates reality in this country instead of analyzing , reporting it...very scary indeed. This is only one issue...what else are the sheep being told that is a mirage...?

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    1. Kramer and CBS on the speed beat, yes - they've been going at him too. Never went at Bloomberg like that. But Bloomberg scared them - or his billions scared them.

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  11. Unfortunately, the Mayor has been doing a pretty good job of destroying his own image- the UES garbage, remarks made about keeping schools open during the snowstorm, now approving the charter schools.
    Seems like a flip flopper, not decisive and strong enough to make a decision and stick by it.
    So early in his administration, and already deBlasio is perceived as a loser. What will happen in the next three years?
    If deBlasio is toast, that's not a good thing for those of us that live in, work in, or work for the city.

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