Chris Christie Too Busy To Deal With Impending New Jersey Blizzard

NJ.com this morning:

TRENTON — With most of the Garden State under a blizzard watch, Gov. Chris Christie was asked Thursday afternoon what lessons he'd learned about New Jersey's power grid in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Appearing as a guest on conservative talk host Hugh Hewitt's syndicated talk radio show, Christie gave a foreboding answer.

"What we learned is that it's incredibly vulnerable, and incredibly fragile," the governor and Republican presidential candidate said, adding that "a bad storm, a historic storm like Sandy, put the most densely populated state in the nation without power for 75 percent of the state for three weeks."

Christie said the fragility and vulnerability of New Jersey's power grid after Sandy  means "that we have a lot of work to do," and then took the opportunity to promote his corporate tax plan, which calls for repatriating $2 billion in U.S. corporations' assets at a substantially lower rate.

The governor promised that if elected president, he would "use that money exclusively for rebuilding our infrastructure, and by that I mean, roads, bridges and the grid."

Hewitt noted that his radio show would repeat throughout the weekend on stations in both New Hampshire and South Carolina, and asked the governor for his "closing argument" to voters in those early primary states.

Christie answered that "I don't think there's anybody more tested by crisis" and that when faced with a devastating storm, "I put the people of my state first and foremost."

Here's Christie putting the people of his state first this weekend with the impending blizzard coming north:

LACONIA, N.H. — Gov. Chris Christie continues to monitor the a winter storm from New Hampshire that has most counties in New Jersey under a blizzard watch and the rest of the state under a winter storm watch.

The governor's office issues a statement late Thursday evening that advised Christie continues to "actively monitor the winter storm."

Christie, who's seeking the Republican presidential nomination, is in the middle of a six-day tour of New Hampshire as makes his final pitch to voters here with less than three weeks before voters head to the polls. He said earlier Thursday he had no plans for now to cut short his campaign trip and return for the impending storm, saying the lieutenant governor can handle the situation.

You just can't make this stuff up.

When I think about the politician who is most full of shit in this country, I can never figure out if it's Chris Christie or Andrew Cuomo.

Every time you think one of them wins the award hands down, the other one does something to put himself back into contention.

Joaquin

NJ.com update at 7:17 AM on Hurricane Joaquin:

Hurricane Joaquin rapidly strengthened overnight and the latest track has the storm heading for New Jersey again.

The potential track for the hurricane, which increased to a Category 3 Wednesday night, has the storm heading north arriving off the coast of the mid-Atlantic states Sunday before making landfall in the Garden State late Monday.

The National Weather Service model released at 5 a.m. says the storm will be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hits New Jersey with winds between 39 and 73 mph.

However, uncertainty still revolves around the storm's course, according to meteorologists.

"I'm not sure that this is the most likely track," said Rob Reale a meteorologist at WeatherWorks, noting there is a good chance Joaquin makes landfall in North Carolina late Sunday.

Models still vary on the path — it could blow out to sea before making landfall or hit anywhere from the Carolinas to Boston — yet meteorologists seem to agree that it is still too far out to be certain.

"The hurricane itself hasn't moved much overnight and the pattern isn't that different than yesterday," said Reale. "The same possibilities [from yesterday] hold true today."

Last night on the weather forums, the consensus seemed to be a Carolinas hit.

This morning on the forums, the consensus seems to be the storm goes out to sea.

With that scenario, it is still possible to have some heavy rains, winds and flooding in the New Jersey/New York area, especially along the coast.

Dunno about you, but the Sandy experience has me watching this closely.

How about you?

More Bad Scandal News For Chris Christie

A few days ago there was a report that the US attorney in New York had issued subpoenas to Christie ally and chairman of the Port Authority David Samson over potential conflicts of interest at the Port Authority involving Samson's law firm.

Those subpoenas were retracted, perhaps because the US attorney in New Jersey had the jurisdiction in the case or because they had already drawn up the subpoenas and were working it.

At any rate, the US attorney in NJ is now acting:

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey issued a subpoena last week to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey seeking records relating to its chairman, David Samson, and contracts on two bridge projects worth $2.8 billion that he voted to award to construction companies with some ties to his law firm, according to people briefed on the matter.

The subpoena focused on Mr. Samson’s potential conflicts of interest. It was issued by the United States attorney’s office in New Jersey, which along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal inquiry into the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge and other suspected wrongdoing by current and former aides, appointees and associates of Gov. Chris Christie, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

The interest in Mr. Samson, a close political ally of Mr. Christie, represents a significant widening of the scandal that has grown out of the closing of two bridge access lanes in Fort Lee, N.J., in September.

Grab some popcorn, watch the show - Christie's now got three scandals dogging him: Bridgegate, Sandy Aid and the Samson/Port Authority conflict of interest case.

Christie taunted public employees and union workers at a town hall last night:

Embattled New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) once again faced a crowd of angry hecklers at a town hall on Tuesday, but blamed “public sector unions” for the outburst.

“Governor Christie, we are here to demand, you stop your corrupt uses, of Hurricane Sandy money!” the group shouted during an event in South River. “There are still families without homes who have received no aid.”

As police forced the demonstrators to leave the room, Christie called himself a “soothsayer” for having predicted that he would be heckled, according to NJ.com.

“Congratulations, everybody,” the governor quipped. “You are now seeing the latest gift given to you by the public sector unions in the state of New Jersey. This is what they do.”

As the scandals dogging Christie continue to broaden, we may just get a chance to mock Chris Christie as police cart him off in handcuffs.

More Christie Corruption News

Another story to watch:

Gov. Chris Christie took nearly a year to implement a law he signed that would require close oversight of federal Hurricane Sandy recovery money, a report this morning said.

Christie signed the "Integrity Monitor Act" in March — a bill that would require independent monitors to oversee how the state government distributes billions in aid. The monitors would be assigned to all projects of $5 million or more.

But integrity monitors weren't put in place until January 2014, according to a report by MSNBC's Steve Kornacki. And, the report said, a company given a prominent role in the monitoring employs Christie's brother, Todd.

Todd Christie keeps showing up in some of these stories:

Gov. Chris Christie's brother was part of a group that bought properties near the Harrison PATH station before a $256 million renovation of the facility was publicly approved, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

Todd Christie and his partners then renovated and flipped the lots for almost triple their purchase price after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey gave its OK to the project, the report said.

One of Todd Christie's partners in West Hudson Properties LLC owns Ferreira Construction, which has gotten "tens of millions of dollars" in work from state agencies since the governor took office in 2010, NorthJersey.com reported.

Port Authority chairman David Samson has also been linked to land around the PATH station. Sampson's law firm, Wolf & Samson, has a client that wants to build luxury apartments where a warehouse stands.

Commissioner David Steiner also voted for renovation, four months after he purchased the rights to build an apartment complex on land along the Passaic River, just blocks from the train station.

The renovated PATH station is slated to open in 2017. Chris Christie has been a major proponent of building up the Hudson County town.

These are the sorts of things that nobody would blink at if BridgeGate and the Hoboken extortion story weren't going on at the same time for Chris Christie.

But now everything Christie has done as governor is getting scrutiny.

Hard to see him remaining head of the Republican Governor's Association much longer because he is damaged goods and the drip drip drip of scandal news is solidifying the meme that he's a dirty pol.

From the cover of TIME as the future of the GOP just a couple of months ago to poster boy for scandal - that's Chris Christie's journey these past couple of months.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer Doubles Down On Allegation Against Christie

The Christie administration pushed back again today over allegations made by Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer that two top Christie aides levied threats at Zimmer over a real estate development deal:

Gov. Chris Christie's office today once again fired back at claims leveled by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer that Hurricane Sandy relief money was held hostage by the governor, saying the city has received millions in aid and has not been denied any grant it has requested.

In a release, a spokesman for the governor slams Zimmer and MSNBC, which first aired Zimmer's claim, for conflating hazard mitigation funding with Sandy recovery money.  According to the governor's office, Hoboken already has received nearly $70 million in relief money.

"Hoboken has in no way trailed similarly situated communities in the receipt of rebuilding funds," the release from Christie's office said.

The Star-Ledger does note the following:

The release does not directly refute Zimmer's accusation, which is that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno told her in May that relief funds could be choked off if she failed to support a redevelopment project in her city that was championed by the governor.

Zimmer said Guadagno told her it's not right that the two things are connected, but they are. Zimmer went on to say that Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable made similar comments later in the month telling her Sandy Aid would flow if she supported the project.

A spokesman for the DCA yesterday declared the accusation "categorically false."

This is the second attempt by the governor to refute Zimmer's claims. In a statement released yesterday, spokesman Colin Reed lashed out at MSNBC.

Zimmer went on CNN to make the allegations against the two Christie officials again today:

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said she was delivering a “direct message” from Gov. Chris Christie when she told Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer to approve a real estate project if she wanted more Hurricane Sandy aid for her city, the mayor said today.

In an appearance on CNN, Zimmer expanded on her allegations that members of the Christie administration told her in May to push through a Hoboken redevelopment project if the flood-prone city wanted help getting federal disaster aid.

“She said ... essentially you’ve got to move forward with the Rockefeller project, this project is really important to the governor,” Zimmer told CNN. “And she said that she had been with him on Friday night and this was a direct message from the governor.”

The Star-Ledger reports that Republicans have opened several fronts in their attempts to discredit Zimmer and her allegations:

Republicans appeared to be fighting back on several fronts to defend Christie's reputation. In addition to disputing the Hoboken mayor's recollection of her conversation with Guadagno, Christie's office sent the press a detailed memo disputing Zimmer's allegation that her city did not get its fair share of Hurricane Sandy aid.

Meanwhile, some Republicans called for a Democratic state assemblyman to recuse himself as head of one of the investigative committees looking into the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal because they said he is biased against Christie.

In her CNN interview, Zimmer defended herself against Republicans who questioned why she waited until Christie was facing a crisis to publicly accuse his administration of trying to strong arm her over Sandy funding.

But Zimmer has a pretty good rationale for why she waited until now to go public with her allegations:

In her CNN interview, Zimmer defended herself against Republicans who questioned why she waited until Christie was facing a crisis to publicly accuse his administration of trying to strong arm her over Sandy funding.

In the 16-minute interview on CNN’s “State of the Union with Candy Crowley,” Zimmer said she initially thought she would hurt Hoboken’s chances for additional Sandy funding if she went public with her conversation with Guadagno or a similar conversation she had last year with Richard Constable, Christie’s current commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.

“I was really concerned that if I came forward, (and) no one believed me, that we would really be cut out of the Sandy funding. But as I watched the coverage with Bridgegate, you do see parallels and I just felt I had an obligation to come forward,” Zimmer said.

The problem for Christie here is that, post-BridgeGate, these allegations are totally believable.

It remains to be seen if their pushback, including sending attack dog Rudy Giuliani after Zimmer, will work.

I'm betting Zimmer has more credibility than any of Christie's henchmen, but we'll just have to see.

BridgeGate, Hoboken/Sandy Relief Funds Scandal May Cost Chris Christie His Chairmanship Of The GOP Governor's Association

The scandals are starting to mount for Chris Christie and they're taking their toll.

He might have survived BridgeGate, especially after he proved to be so adept at his press conference explaining away the particulars of the scandal and how he had nothing to do with the closure of traffic lanes to the GWB in Fort Lee.

But now that Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer has accused the Christie administration of shaking her down over a real estate project, withholding Sandy relief funds from her city unless she gave the governor what he wanted on the development, he has to battle a scandal war on two fronts.

This weekend, we already have ample evidence that the war is not going so well:

It was supposed to be Gov. Chris Christie’s comeback tour:

A weekend trip to Florida, where he would show the world he could still drum up top-dollar checks for Republican candidates across the country even as his administration faces a swirl of scandals, subpoenas and allegations of abuse of power.

But instead of highlighting his fundraising chops, Christie, in his new role as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, spent the day besieged by new claims of political retribution — and shuttling quietly around the Sunshine State as far as possible from the public eye.

There were stops at a Tuscan-style country club in Orlando (he took a back entrance) and a seaside mansion in Palm Beach owned by one of the richest businessmen in the state (the RGA refused to give a time or address.)

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a fellow Republican, declined to hold any public events with New Jersey’s celebrity governor, a rarity in the middle of a re-election campaign.

"If this continues, he clearly can’t perform the functions of the chair, which is to go in and put the spotlight on GOP gubernatorial candidates on the ballot in November," said Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. "If he’s going to go into a state to help … but then he becomes the issue and generates negative headlines, then he can’t serve as RGA chair, it’s obvious."

I think that's right - Christie has to put the Hoboken allegations behind him very, very soon or he's going to be out of the Republican Governor's Association chair gig.

I'm not sure how he puts it behind him - the Legislature is going to look into these allegations too, just as they're already investigating BridgeGate, which means more subpoenas, more news stories, more headlines that are going to keep Chris Christie's name tied to scandal.

I suppose another superstorm or something like that (God forbid!) could give him the opportunity to put these scandals off the front pages and out of people's minds.

But otherwise, I think he's in a lot of trouble - there's blood in the water and the sharks are circling and chomping at him.

Christie Can No Longer Use Hurricane Sandy To Innoculate Himself From Criticism

When the going gets tough, Chris Christie wraps himself in Hurricane Sandy, surrounding himself with people who suffered from the storm last year and generating good publicity for himself in the news cycle.

But with today's bombshell that he allegedly had two cronies, including his Lieutenant Governor, Kim Guadagno, deliver extortion threats to Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer that she either conceded to his wishes on a real estate project or he would withhold a couple hundred million in Sandy relief funds from the City of Hoboken, Christie may have lost his Sandy innoculation opportunity for good:

Brigid Harrison, political science professor at Montclair University, said she was surprised Guadagno is alleged to be at the center of this controversy. People think of her as being outside the Christie circle of influence.

"Most people perceived her as enormously effective and underutilized," Harrison said. "It's very surprising she is alleged to have had an active participatory role."

The revelations are damning to Christie, Harrison said.

"They pull the rug out from under the governor in one area of policy in which he had made so many significant inroads with New Jerseyans and so many people in the country," she said.

"He can no longer use Sandy victims as his foil as he did this past week," Harrison said, referring to his visit to Ocean County to talk with storm victims. "The fact that funds for Sandy were part of this scenario is really not going to resonate well."

Christie is also under investigation by the feds for misusing Sandy funds to promote his re-election.

Both of these stories now mean that the next Christie Sandy photo op/presser will contain questions about his alleged misuse of Sandy relief funds and his having cronies try and extort a real estate project go-ahead in return for a couple of hundred million in Sandy relief money.

Want to bet Christie doesn't do a Sandy photo op for a little while?

Christie Administration Withheld Sandy Relief Funds From Hoboken In Retaliation Over Real Estate Project

From Steve Kornacki at MSNBC:

Two senior members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration warned a New Jersey mayor earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with msnbc.

The mayor, Dawn Zimmer, hasn’t approved the project, but she did request $127 million in hurricane relief for her city of Hoboken – 80% of which was underwater after Sandy hit in October 2012. What she got was $142,000 to defray the cost of a single back-up generator plus an additional $200,000 in recovery grants.

In an exclusive interview, Zimmer broke her silence and named Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, Christie’s community affairs commissioner, as the two officials who delivered messages on behalf of a governor she had long supported.

“It’s not fair for the governor to hold Sandy funds hostage for the city of Hoboken” because he wants support for one private developer, she said Saturday on UP w/ Steve Kornacki.

Constable and Christie – through spokespersons – deny Zimmer’s claims.

As the allegations of retribution mount against Christie and his administration, more and more politicians are going to feel safe enough to go public with their stories.

This Hoboken story is particularly outrageous.

80% of Hoboken was flooded by Sandy, the city requested $127 million in hurricane relief, Christie gave them $342,000.

Christie can try and defend that all he wants.

The pictures from Hoboken during Sandy showed just how devastated that city was.

Christie said he would help.

The city asked for $127 million to provide for a better flood defense among other hurricane relief actions.

Christie gave $342,000.

All because, it seems, Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer didn't give him and his cronies what they wanted on their re-development deal.

Outrageous - yet par for the course with Christie.

Chris Christie Lies Over NJ Transit/Sandy Story

Chris Christie loves to blame stuff on others:

A report by The Record is contradicting Governor Chris Christie's recent account of why NJ Transit moved hundreds of pieces of rail equipment into a flood zone prior to Sandy.

The Governor this week blamed that decision on a low-level employee, whom he said made the call with no input or oversight from top managers. But a Record examination of agency emails found at least 15 agency officials knew the trains were headed to the Meadowlands -- a violation of its own hurricane plan -- including NJ Transit chief James Weinstein.

The Post-Mayoral Propaganda Around Bloomberg Is Starting Already

From the Daily News:

Hizzoner is getting a big honor indeed – a biography.

Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is getting a “major biography” by way of author Eleanor Randolph, a longtime journalist and editorial board member for the New York Times.

According to the release, the biography will take an intimate look into the “extraordinary career and legacy of Bloomberg, who revolutionized business reporting, who has been a powerful and innovative mayor of New York City for the last 12 years, and who has become a public figure of national significance.”

Gee, that doesn't sound like a puff piece at all.

Oh, no...wait...

It does sound like a puff piece.

Is Eleanor Randolph on the Bloomberg payroll?

Probably not.

Does she want to be on the Bloomberg payroll?

Sure sounds like it from the description of the book.

Bloomberg has tons of of his own journalists on payroll already, from Jonathan Alter to Andrew Kirtzman, who will provide plenty of pro-Bloomberg propaganda in the coming years.

And then we have shills from the NY Times editorial board who look like they're about to add to the pro-Bloomberg propaganda canon.

Will anybody do an independent accounting of the Bloomberg Years?

Will anybody look into the manipulated crime stats?

Or the phonied up graduation rates?

Or how they lied about the test scores?

Or how they lie about emergency response times now?

How about all the scandals - from CityTime to the 911 system that STILL doesn't work and almost killed another person this week to the NYCHA computer mess to the FDNY GPS scandal to the Seedco scandal to the NYCDOE scandals (see here and here) and on and on and on...

And let's not forget the Bloomberg Boxer Day Blizzard disaster, when he couldn't get the streets outside of Manhattan plowed and people died as a result or his downplaying of the seriousness of Sandy prior to Cuomo forcing him to call for an evacuation when the governor shut the MTA down.

So much to scrutinize, but Eleanor Randolph's book doesn't sound like it's going to look into any of that.

Then again, as a member of the NY Times editorial board, she's been responsible for a lot of pro-Bloomberg propaganda in the past, so there's no reason to expect that will change now that the mayor is leaving.

Joe Lhota May Not Even Win Staten Island

Staten Island is considered a GOP stronghold in NYC. 

The borough voted for Giuliani twice and Bloomberg three times (77% the first two times, 66% the last time.)

A Republican who wants to be elected mayor of NYC cannot lose Staten Island and expect to win the election.

Joe Lhota lost Staten Island in the GOP primary.

According to Capital Tonight, Staten Islanders are pissed at Lhota for the Verrazano Bridge toll hike and seem to be holding that against him in this election.

The Lhota campaign has countered with all the wonderful things Lhota did for Staten Island during the Giuliani administration (including closing the Fresh Kills landfill and making the Staten Island Ferry free.)

Still, this isn't helping him with voters there.

Capital Tonight concludes:

The latest poll showed Bill de Blasio with an early lead in the Mayor’s race. Lhota supporters knew this would be an uphill battle. But he also can’t be explaining transportation policy to angry Staten Islanders a few weeks before the election and expect to win the borough.

Just another reason why Joe Lhota is not going to be mayor of NYC. 

When a GOP candidate in a NYC mayoral race cannot count on Staten Island, he's in serious trouble.

I long have thought that Lhota's tenure at the MTA was not so helpful to him.

Yes, he got the subways running after Sandy - but he also raised the fares on the bridges and the subways.

People hold that stuff against bureaucrats and politicians - like they should.

And right now the reliably Republican borough of Staten Island is holding the toll hike against Republican candidate Joe Lhota.

Good luck getting over 35% without winning big in Staten Island, Joe.

NYCDOE Continues To Poison Students, Staff With PCB's In City Schools

Once again, it becomes apparent that the Children First. Always people care nothing about children:

Despite vowing to speed up the process of replacing light fixtures containing dangerous chemicals in city schools, the Education Department does not follow its own protocols to alert parents and quickly remove toxic PCBs, according to emails obtained by the Daily News.

The exchanges between staffers from the DOE and Environmental Protection Agency show that defective light fixtures are still leaking in city schools — and replacement of the faulty fixtures at some were not handled properly.

...

  

At Public School 253 in Brighton Beach, several fixtures did not work in the auditorium this year. School staff discovered one of the lights had leaked toxic liquid in the auditorium in August.

“The custodian did not follow procedures for reporting it or cleaning it,” EPA employee John Gorman wrote in March to his colleagues. “They are removing all of the fixtures in the auditorium tonight and will collect a wipe sample from the floor.”

At P.S. 186 in Bensonhurst, there were five smoking ballasts recorded from March to May, Gorman noted to his colleagues in another email.

In a letter sent to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott in February regarding more toxins at P.S. 50 in Staten Island, EPA regional administrator Judith Enck called out the DOE for taking 10 days to alert families of smoke emanating from fixtures.

“The students were not immediately removed from the classroom,” Enck wrote. “I am concerned about the DOE’s response to the situation.”

And what was the DOE's response?

 

Why, a jive-ass p.r. statement from Marge Feinberg, of course!

 

“The DOE continues to work with EPA on improving protocols and developing a citywide PCB management plan,” said spokeswoman Margie Feinberg. “As the lighting replacement project progresses, DOE is keeping EPA abreast of ongoing work.”

They don't care about the children in the public school system at all.

Seriously, not at all.

If they did, they would have sped up the removal of the PCB's from the light fixtures in all of the schools instead of fighting the case brought against them and trying to delay the removal as long as possible.

And if money was such a problem, then they could have dumped a few Common Core consultants or testing contracts and put that money to the PCB removal.

But Bloomberg would never do that because he doesn't care about these children (or the staff) at all.

 

Remember, they did this with mold testing and removal after Sandy too.

 

Bloomberg and his Tweedies love spending money on all kinds of testing except for environmental testing of schools to ensure their safety.

Isn't it time that we call him and his Tweedies on their Children First. Always jive once and for all?

Bloomberg Wants To Build Storm Barriers Around The City

From NY1:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to deliver a major address on Tuesday on how the city should prepare for the effects of climate change, following months of preparation from a task force the mayor set up after Hurricane Sandy.

While officially City Hall is waiting for Bloomberg himself to detail the kinds of projects that could keep the city dry in future storms, those involved in the planning have told NY1 that one component will be removable storm barriers.

NY1 has also learned Bloomberg is also expected to call for dunes along the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens and Staten Island's South Shore.

We can start with all the horseshit that emanates out of Bloomberg's mouth at press conferences, public appearances and his radio show.

He says enough horseshit to build a barrier around the city so big and powerful that Sandy wouldn't have stood a chance.

Walcott, Bloomberg Put Rockaway Children At Risk

Because they just don't care:

Parents at a Sandy-battered school in the Rockaways were up in arms after learning mold was discovered in a building that city officials had assured them was safe.

The fungus, which can cause health problems, was found last month in a classroom on the third floor of Public School/Middle School 114 in Belle Harbor.

Experts said it was caused by a leaky radiator that damaged classroom floors — and not the five feet of water and sewage that flooded the Cronston Ave. school’s auditorium during the superstorm.
“It’s outrageous that seven months after the storm, we’re still finding out there’s still health hazards in our schools,” said Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Beach.) “They need to do a more extensive study to ensure they’ve found it all.”

An independent expert, hired by the United Federation of Teachers, also found high moisture levels in two classrooms on the second floor. The levels can lead to mold growth.

“It’s scary that our children were allowed to go back to a school that wasn’t properly cleaned and wasn’t properly tested,” said parent Dana Carioti, 33, of Belle Harbor.

“I’m really on the fence about sending my son back there in September,” she said.

The school was deluged with stormwater and sewage during Sandy. It reopened on Nov. 27 — less than a month after Sandy — despite parents concerns about the safety of the building.

The auditorium was closed shortly after when the teachers’ union found high moisture levels. The city reopened it after it was dried out with dehumidifiers.

City Department of Education officials said school buildings walloped by Sandy underwent visual and moisture tests before they were reopened. The union also tested the worst-hit schools.
The city will begin repairing the damaged floors at P.S./M.S. 114 this weekend, said Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg.

“The school is safe,” she said. “Whatever repairs are required, we will do them.”

But parents, who have been battling asthma-causing mold in their homes since Sandy, said the city needs to properly test schools for the fungus.

“We’re just very, very concerned,” said Parent Teacher Association Co-President Irene Dougherty. “I’d like to think when I send my child to school, my child is safe.”

There's are old friend Marge Feinberg assuring us that the school is safe.

They always send her out on the bed bug cases too to assure parents there are no bed bugs in schools because schools do not have beds.

That the NYCDOE and City Hall do not care about the children or parents in Belle Harbor is quite clear.

All they cared about was getting that school building reopened as quickly as possible.

Now they refuse to conduct the tests necessary to see if the school is safe.

They always have refused to conduct these tests.

You see, these tests must show that the NYCDOE and City Hall have been putting kids and teachers at risk by sending them in to a sick building.

Parents should not only sue the NYCDOE and the City of New York over this, they should sue both Bloomberg and Walcott personally as well, for putting their children at risk.

Bloomberg Jeered At St. Patrick's Day Parade In The Rockaways

The good people of Rockaway just do not buy the Mayor's jive: 

While many in the Rockaways cheered on the 38th annual Queens County St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday as a much-needed sign of the neighborhood's recovery from Hurricane Sandy, some spectators booed Mayor Michael Bloomberg as he marched, claiming he did not prepare the area for storms.

...

"We are going to keep rebuilding," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "We have come a long ways. We have a ways to go."

Some parade-goers did not agree with the mayor's assessment.

As Mayor Bloomberg marched, the crowd jeered. They said the mayor has not done enough to get this community back on its feet.

"Nothing. Bloomberg and the government did nothing," said one parade-goer. "All he does is care about soda. That's it."

"The mayor is here to march in the parade, and he does nothing else to help us," said another.

The mayor still had a few fans. "He did the best he can," said one parade-goer.

But the chorus seemed to drown that sentiment out.

At one point, as Bloomberg offered thanks on behalf of the city, he was once again met with boos.

The people of Rockaway know, Bloomberg is all talk and no action. 

He cares nothing for them or about them.

If you live on the Upper East Side or Greenwich, Connecticut, the mayor cares about you because you are one of his people.

But if you live in Sea Gate or Staten Island or Coney Island or Gerritsen Beach or the Rockaways, you are not one of his people and the mayor cares nothing about.

Nothing.

He cares only about his own class.

Bloomberg Finally Gets Some Public Scrutiny

Last night at the Daily News mayoral debate, the candidates hammered Bloomberg over his piss poor handling of the Sandy aftermath:

"It's quite possible Mayor Bloomberg does not know what mold is," mocked Comptroller John Liu when the questioning turned to the city's response to super-storm Sandy.

All six candidates agreed the city hasn't done enough to help residents still struggling to recover.
"This is a city administration that wanted to run a marathon while people were just moving into shelters and unfortunately bodies were still being found," said former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is closest the the mayor of all those running, said mold removal should have been included in the "rapid repairs" program initiated by the city after a homeowner from Gerritsen Beach said hundreds of homes there might be lost due to spreading contamination.

How did Bloomberg respond? 

With a Howard Wolfson tweet:

But Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson felt compelled to tweet last night, "Reality check-- Bloomberg at 65-23 (per cent in polls) on Hurricane Sandy performance."

Try polling people in Staten Island, the Rockaways, and Gerritsen Beach and see what the numbers are.

Wolfson 's job is to lie and spin for his boss, the Mayor of Money, so of course he will look for any way to push back against these charges.

But the fact is, the mayor and his people do think they've done a great job on the Sandy response - even as the mold and other problems post-Sandy destroy houses all over the Rockaways and Staten Island.

Just another example of how out of touch Bloomberg and his henchmen are.

Walcott Finally Tests PS 114 In Belle Harbor, Finds Mold And Asbestos In The School

Test happy Chancellor Dennis Walcott refused to test PS 114 for mold after Sandy.

The school took on five to six feet of water, but Walcott said a sight review of the school showed everything was safe.

The DOE reopened the school, but many parents were afraid to send their kids back and called for mold tests to be conducted on the building.

The UFT joined them in that call.

Finally Walcott agreed and - you guessed it - the school came up positive:

Department of Education officials found mold and asbestos in a storm-damaged Queens school that last week was cleared for students to return — but only after parents insisted that the officials check.

It took scores of complaints from parents and meetings at the school before officials agreed to conduct tests for moisture and other hazards at PS 114 in Belle Harbor, which had been shut for more than a month after Hurricane Sandy.

Late yesterday, DOE officials quietly posted findings of subsequent tests online showing that areas of mold and asbestos in the auditorium and a nearby stairwell require removal.

Additionally, two of 14 water fountains showed elevated levels of copper.

In a letter to parents, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm committed to removing the mold and asbestos over the coming two weekends.

Great - not just mold, but asbestos and elevated levels of copper in the water.

But Dennis Walcott said he had the results of all the necessary tests for PS 114 in hand and that he KNEW the school was safe.

It turns out Walcott was wrong.

Just as was the case at PS 51 where Walcott and the DOE continued to send students and staff to a school that they knew to be unsafe (in the case of PS 51, with cancer-causing toxins), Walcott and the DOE have sent Rockaway children and school staff into harm's way at PS 114 for god knows what reason.

Walcott was on record last week as saying the following:

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the water is safe.

"It's part of people's perception that it hasn't been tested," Walcott said. "But it's being tested on a regular basis by the Department of Environmental Protection. That's for the community and the school is part of that community.

Oh, yeah the water is safe - except for the elevated levels of copper in two water fountains.

Teacher, why does my mouth taste like old pennies?

Walcott's refusal to test 114 for mold and other harmful toxins was unconscionable and you can bet those tests never would have happened had the parents, the union and the media not jumped all over him for refusing to conduct them.

Now it behooves everybody to watch closely and make sure the DOE follows up on the testing and removes the mold, asbestos, and copper.

It is not beyond reason to describe Dennis Walcott as one of the worst human beings on the planet.

Seriously, to refuse to test PS 114 for mold after all that storm damage and send kids back in to the school when all it was going to cost was the price of one DOE consultant overrun to test the place is beyond the pale.

The chancellor is happy to spend hundreds of millions on standardized testing but didn't want to spend $50,000 on mold tests - even though kids were back in the school and could get sick from the mold.

Really, one of the worst human beings on the planet.

Why Won't Test-Happy Dennis Walcott Test PS 114 For Mold?

As I wrote earlier, Chancellor Dennis Walcott already has a track record of putting children at risk by allowing them to attend schools that he knows are unsafe.

At PS 51 in the Bronx, Walcott KNEW that the school was contaminated with toxins and did NOTHING for months until finally he admitted that the school was unsafe and needed to be remediated.

At least one person connected to the school has filed suit claiming the toxins there gave her cancer.

Now parents at PS 114 in Belle Harbor are worried that Walcott is repeating this callousness at their school:

The school was flooded during Sandy -- the water line went halfway up the front door.

Monday night, representatives of the health and education departments tried to address parents' concerns including the possibility of mold inside the school's walls.

"I personally looked down in the basement underneath into the crawl space to make sure you didn't see any moisture or anything that was left that could be causing mold," said John Shea from the city's division of school facilities.

Officials said they followed health department guidelines, which say if mold can't be seen and if all sources that cause mold to grow are disposed of then no mold testing is necessary.

But parents said the hurricane was an extraordinary circumstance and the normal rules shouldn't apply.

"Being that this room was submerged I'm not comfortable with these walls that are still here that took five feet of water," a parent said.

She also conceded that they hadn't tested the water for the school, which received some sarcastic chuckles from the parents in the crowd.

Parents said they're concerned that untested water would be in the food their kids eat and the fountains they drink from.

But schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the water is safe.

"It's part of people's perception that it hasn't been tested," Walcott said. "But it's being tested on a regular basis by the Department of Environmental Protection. That's for the community and the school is part of that community.

The school is still being run on generator power and parents said they are still able to smell fumes from inside the building.

Walcott said he will do his best to address the concerns addressed at the meeting as quickly as possible.

You can be sure that Walcott and the NYCDOE cannot be trusted.

Last week they assured parents all necessary tests were done on the school.

When asked if the school had been tested for mold, they demurred in their answers.

Now they admit that the school hasn't been tested.

With all the money these test-happy educrats spend on standardized testing, why can't they open the coffers and test PS 114 for mold?

Could it be because they KNOW there is mold there and don't want to expose themselves to the parent furor (and lawsuits) now that they've reopened the school?

Or are they just stubborn about this and they really believe that sight testing is enough?

Who knows the motivation for the refusal to test for mold, but we do know one thing:

Dennis Walcott is a liar with a track record of putting children at risk in schools he knew to be unsafe.

If I were a parent of a child attending PS 114 or an employee there, I would lawyer up and sue the NYCDOE, the City of New York and Dennis Walcott himself.

The only thing these people in Bloomberg's government understand is subpoenas.

The DOE spends hundreds of millions on testing every year.

Let them spend a little more to test PS 114 for mold.

Walcott Assures PS 114 Parents The School Is Safe For Children

NY 1 reports:

Parents want to know: is there mold growing behind the Sandy battered walls of P.S./M.S. 114?

Until tests provide a definitive no, Maggie Murphy isn't going back to her fifth-grade classroom.

"I was scared if I could get sick," she said.

"How could you possibly open up the school and put these children and teachers and so on in jeopardy?" said parent Don Murphy. "I don't understand that."

...

The school's auditorium and gym were submerged by flood water. The New York City Department of Education said the gym and auditorium stage are off limits for now, although the auditorium was used for a welcome back pep rally.

On Thursday, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said P.S. 114 was safe for students to attend.

"We have clean air samples for 114," he said. "We do not put students in a school that's not healthy, and so I have the report, the report is fine."

But on Friday, the DOE said the air was tested for humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other materials. It said nothing about mold. So now, the teachers' union is checking.

"Let's just do the right thing," said Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers. "Let the professionals check it, and then they can assure the parents that the school is a safe place for their kids."

It's not clear when the test results will be available. Parents said they want to be reassured their kids are safe at school so they can focus on rebuilding other parts of their lives.

"I feel helpless, because all I want is for her to be safe and have an education," Moore said.

I'm so sure the report on air quality at PS 114 that Walcott has in his hands is accurate and comprehensive.

I am also sure Walcott would never try and deceive parents about the air quality or safety in a NYC school.

Except for that school in the Bronx with the toxins left over from a lighting factory that were 10,000 times the state safety limit that Walcott said was safe but turned out not be.

Remember that story?

I do:

Parents at a North Bronx elementary school have just been treated to an unpleasant late-summer surprise. At an "emotional" meeting with the parents of Bronx New School students yesterday, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced that the school's air and soil were contaminated by the potentially carcinogenic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE), and that the Department of Education had known of the contamination since February.

According to the the Daily News, the Department of Education not only waited for months to drop the bombshell, but had never tested the building and its soil before, despite the fact that it had been a factory building for 70 years. The building's last inhabitant before the old Board of Education leased the building in 1992, Nessen Lamps Inc., generated hundreds of gallons of "spent halogenated solvents used in degreasing" (like TCE) in 1986 and 1987. And the DOE has been spending $28 per square foot in rent for this literal dump each year, on top of paying for the renovations necessary to turn the space into a school.

The school's 300 students will be sent this fall to St. Martin of Tours, a former Catholic School more than 2 miles away. Walcott said the health risks presented by the exposure to the site, where soil contamination was more than 10,000 times the limit determined by state regulations, were "minimal," and that a pediatrician was on-site to test children. However, parents of course came forward with reports of their children's complaints of headaches, dizziness and nausea. One parent, Leona Johnson, told NBC her daughter, now 24 years old, graduated from the school back in 1997 and continues to suffer health problems. The parent of a 7-year-old is being told to have the girl's heart checked out.

Reports NY1, "Parents said they did not think the chancellor admitting the city made a mistake and apologizing was enough." The rage of a horde of parents has probably never been more succinctly understated.

Dennis Walcott's word is worth nothing.

The events around the DOE's handling of PS 52 prove that statement.

Walcott says PS 114 is safe.

Parents should believe that as much as they believe Richard Nixon's "Your President Is Not A Crook!" speech.

We have evidence from the very recent past that the NYCDOE and Chancellor Walcott knew that a school was unsafe for children, indeed Walcott had the test results IN HIS HAND - and they did nothing about it for months.

I said at the time that if even one person at the school comes down with cancer or any other illness attributed to the toxins, Walcott, Bloomberg and the NYCDOE are responsible.

The same is true at PS 114 and other Rockaway schools that have been opened with the DOE's assurance that all is well.

Walcott does not care about the health of children or the safety of the people in the schools.

He cares about the appaearance of those things.

Mostly he cares about making his boss happy by making things seem like they're back to normal.

So what if black mold is growing in the auditorium and behind the first floor walls of the school?

This is about making sure the kids get back to school.

There is no time to make sure this school is safe for kids and staff!

There is only time to get the kids ready for their standardized tests!

De Blasio Pushes For 911 Investigation

Bloomberg said the 911 emergency system "functioned perfectly" during Superstorm Sandy, but Public Advocate Bill de Blasio begged to differ:

Public officials are demanding an investigation into the near-meltdown of the city’s 911 emergency system during Sandy’s wrath last month — refusing to accept Mayor Bloomberg’s assertion that it all worked “perfectly.”

“Failure to plan caused the system to fail, just as it failed during the December 2010 blizzard,” wrote Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens), chairwoman of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, in an open letter to Bloomberg.

“The city must seriously analyze the system’s shortcomings and seek answers that will help us better prepare for future disasters,” they demanded.

As The Post reported Monday, countless calls to 911 rang unanswered, were greeted by recordings or overwhelmed dispatchers unable to send help.

“By shining a light on the scope of this breakdown, The Post did the city a real service,” said de Blasio. “When the city sees a crisis, like a storm approaching, it has to assign the personnel and resources necessary to protect our people.”

The call center was woefully understaffed as well, as it dealt with as many as 50,000 calls an hour.
But Bloomberg has insisted that the system, which has been subject to an ongoing and over-budget $2 billion overhaul, worked “perfectly.”

He dismissed de Blasio and Crowley yesterday as ill-informed.

“They unfortunately don’t know anything,” Bloomberg said. “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

De Blasio said frustrated — and worried — residents called his office and staffers during the storm when they couldn’t get through to 911.

Aides were able to contact the Office of Emergency Management and help facilitate the evacuations of three families, according to de Blasio’s office.

De Blasio urged Bloomberg to take a hard look at the 911 system.

“This demands more than flip remarks. People couldn’t get through to 911 with life-threatening emergencies,” he said. “There’s only one acceptable response to that kind of breakdown: Fix it.”

Hard to fix something when you refuse to admit there's a problem, as Bloomberg is doing.

And he continues to try and hide the scope of the problem by quashing an independent report that details just how bad the 911 system re-do is:

In a related development, the state Appellate Division issued a unanimous ruling ordering City Hall to release drafts of a controversial report that found the city’s new 911 system a failure.

The Post in April revealed that Bloomberg was hiding the scathing report to avoid the embarrassment that independent consultants found the system remains plagued with problems despite attempts to fix it.

His top officials had marked all copies of the 911 Call Processing Review — or 911 CPR — as drafts to circumvent public-records laws that allow government agencies to keep drafts of internal reports private.

The ruling, however, didn’t require City Hall to immediately release the report.

When will Bloomberg finally have to release the whole report?

Why isn't the 911 mess a huge scandal?

You can bet if this were David Dinkins at the helm and a 911 system pushed by his administration suffered near-catastrophic failure during Superstorm Sandy, the press would be all over it.

And yet, except for the Post stories, Bloomberg is getting a pass.

Bloomberg surely lives a charmed life.

Being a billionaire media mogul rumored to be in the market for the NY Times and the Financial Times surely helps.