David Bowie

His latest album released Friday on his 69th birthday - dead on Sunday from cancer:

Rock-and-roll legend David Bowie died Sunday after a secret battle against cancer, his publicist confirmed early Monday.

He had turned 69 on Friday.

The singer-songwriter, whose decades of hits redefined rock music and whose gender-bending alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, became a pop-culture icon, passed away at his London home, his loved ones at his bedside.

“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer,” read a statement on his Web site.

“While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”

Bowie had just released an album, “Blackstar,” and was in New York last month for the opening of an Off-Broadway show based on his music, “Lazarus.”

He had released two albums in the last year or so after not releasing anything for a long time, but did no publicity work around them, no shows, no interviews.

It seemed odd, but Bowie was an odd fellow (and I mean that in a good way) so I just thought maybe that was how he wanted to do things.

Alas with the cancer, it seems that may have been how he had to do things.

I am very saddened to hear this news.

So many good memories with Bowie's music - here's one, with Bowie and Ronson:

Cuomo Sounds Like Mulgrew On Community Schools

Tom Precious in the Buffalo News:

In his speech Sunday, Cuomo also appeared to soften his rhetoric substantially from last year on the causes of public schools that are deemed to be “failing” as learning centers for their students. A year ago, Cuomo released a report showing 109,000 children across the state go to school in 178 persistently failing schools – marked by high dropout rates, low test scores and other factors. At the time, he was pushing a plan to allow for outside takeover of failing schools and making it harder for teachers to get tenure.

On Sunday, he criticized “the bureaucracy” that resists change in the education system, but he talked of “community” school-type settings as the solution. “We want to take those failing schools and say, ‘Look, the problem isn’t just education,’ ” he said.

Cuomo said that if people think that the problems in such failing schools are teachers and the education system, “then you’re missing the point, because the kids in those schools need a lot more than a teacher and normal education.”

The Cuomo budget plan to be released Wednesday will call for $100 million to expand an array of services offered at failing schools. A precise breakdown by school was not available Sunday, but he suggested it will offer more money for nutrition, mentoring, afterschool, counseling and other programs in the failing schools. “Don’t call it a school. Call it a community school,” he said.

A Cuomo spokesman noted that community schools were added “as an eventual product of the process” involving failing schools. “This is consistent with that,” the spokesman said.

What to make of all this?

Why is Cuomo "softening" his tone on so-called "failing" schools and calling for the community school model to solve the problems.

Well, I have a theory:

Remember all those meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo (he's # 4 on the all-time meeting list) and the July lunch date he had with the governor and his secretary, Bill Mulrow, in New York?

Remember when Mulgrew told the DA that there's not much they expect to get done this legislative session?

Looks like some kind of deal was worked out between Mulgrew and Cuomo.

Here's what I bet happened:

Cuomo wants the law to remain on the books so he doesn't look like a complete schmuck, having the thing dismantled one year after spending so much time, energy and political capital getting it through.

The unions want community schools to be the model for fixing "failing" schools.

I bet Mulgrew and the unions agreed they wouldn't push against Cuomo's odious 2015 education reform law that imposed receivership and 50% test scores in teacher evaluations in return for Cuomo supporting Mugrew (and Randi"s) beloved community school model.

I've seen a lot of teachers on social media wondering why the unions aren't pushing to have the 2015 education law changed.

It makes no sense, what with the governor under 40% in job approval and running scared that he's going to be charged by the US attorney for corruption, that the unions wouldn't seek to dismantle last year's law.

In addition, it's an election year - when would you ever have more leverage on pols in Albany than in an election year?

But they're not working to dismantle Cuomo's education reform law at all - instead they're tamping down expectations, saying nothing can get done this year because the politicians are busy and don't want to talk to them.

Seems odd but look no further than the way Cuomo's talking about community schools to get an indication for why.

A deal appears to have been worked out, with the unions selling teachers down the river on test scores/APPR and schools on receivership in return for Cuomo pushing community schools.

Just theorizing, of course, but given the history of UFT/NYSUT sellouts and given all the meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo,idle theorizing it isn't.

It makes no sense that the unions wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail to have that 2015 law dismantled unless they got something back from Cuomo in order to sit on their hands and do nothing.

And you know how Mulgrew (and Randi) love community schools.

There we have it - another vaunted UFT sellout.

Your union leadership at work, selling you out, one meeting at a time.

What The Cuomo Administration And El Chapo Have In Common

El Chapo used the same communications method as the Cuomo administration pic.twitter.com/gTlHQQsc9v

— Bill Mahoney (@mahoneyw) January 10, 2016

Despite the untraceable communications he used, El Chapo was brought down by arrogance, with authorities tracing him post-prison breakout after the drug lord began holding talks to have a movie based upon his life made.

Similarly, Cuomo may be brought down by arrogance despite the untraceable communications and other games he and his administration have used to avoid scrutiny of their inner doings.

Pro Publica summed up all the shenanigans Cuomo has played here - they include not only using untraceable Blackberry PIN messaging to communicate with aides, but also redacting FOILed documents so heavily as to render them unreadable, a policy that purged emails after 90 days, Cuomo aides using personal accounts to conduct government business (and thus avoiding FOIL issues), and ignoring FOIL requests they don't like (such as around Cuomo's fundraising and donors.)

Despite Cuomo administration attempts to avoid scrutiny of inner administration doings, there are two reported federal investigations related to the governor going on.

The first has the feds reportedly investigating the Cuomo administration for tampering into the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, including Cuomo administration officials putting the kibosh on subpoenas to or investigations of the governor's donors during the commission's work.

The second has the feds investigating Cuomo's signature Buffalo Billion Project economic development program, with subpoenas having gone out to Cuomo donors and state entities involved in the bidding process.

In addition, US Attorney Preet Bharara, who has taken down both former Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and former Majority Leader Dean Skelos on corruption convictions, has refused to let Cuomo off the hook publicly, repeatedly refusing to say whether he's targeting Cuomo for corruption. 

Don't think Cuomo's not aware he's got trouble - this Buffalo News piece with a "state official" who sounds suspiciously like Cuomo himself providing hours of interview time and dozens of documents to News reporter Tom Precious in order to defend himself and his administration against charges of a corrupt bidding process (see more here and here) suggests otherwise.

It's also easy to see Cuomo's frenetic January activity, with multiple daily announcements about his 2016 agenda occurring in different parts of the state, as Cuomo looking to distract from the federal investigations into his administration and his donors, as Baruch College political science professor Douglas Muzzio noted on social media:

Cuomo's Moses-like agenda = laying markers in face of Preet threat?

— Douglas Muzzio (@musingmuttering) January 9, 2016

Our friend in Buffalo Sean Crowley had similar thoughts after Cuomo announced multiple gazillion dollar transit projects (if you're scoring at home, Cuomo has proposed $65 billion in transit and transportation projects):

It really does look like this guy is feverishly flailing to establish some good guy cred any and everywhere before Preet drops the hammer on him. Maybe if he hadn't spent the last 3 decades or so as a belligerent prick he wouldn't be playing such a furious game of catch up now. It is fun to watch.

Indeed, it is fun to watch.

For a long, long time he has thought himself untouchable, the Sheriff of Albany who could claim to be cleaning up all the capital corruption while actually residing at the center of it all, sucking up millions in LLC loophole donations and paying back donors with development projects and millions in tax breaks.

But suddenly, after the Silver and Skelos convictions, those activities go from "business as usual" in Albany to perhaps a very big legal problem for the governor.

Thus all this vigorous agenda activity, with Cuomo everywhere and anywhere to announce another goodie for another constituency?

It sure seems like it.

Here was Cuomo yesterday, on yet another imploding the old bandstand at the state fairgrounds, while also announcing $200 million for upstate airports:

Bam. Great use of Vine by @NYGovCuomo for implosion at state fairgrounds in SYR. https://t.co/4OqICIuWvW #PR

— Dave Armon (@daveyarmon) January 9, 2016

If the US attorney follows the pattern with Cuomo that he's used on Silver and Skelos in the past (leak, leak, leak...criminal charges) that video will be a fantastic emblem for the Cuomo administration and Cuomo's political career.

It's hard to say whether Bharara really will take Cuomo down or whether he's just screwing with him, dangling him out there to twist slowly in the wind.

But given the frenetic pre-2016 state of the state/budget address activity Cuomo's engaging in and the $65 billion (yup - that's "billion" with a "b") in transportation and transit projects he's proposing for the state, something weird seems to be going on behind those beady eyes and that glassy stare he's got.

Might it be that soon he and his fellow Blackbery Messenger user, El Chapo, will have more in common than just communication methods?

Cuomo Subway Station Shutdown Plan Savaged

Gothamist readers react to the news that Governor Cuomo will shut down 30 subway stations for as long as a year to "re-invision" them for WiFi, USB charging ports, and countdown clocks as well as his plan to replace the MTA metrocard with a smartphone app:

A YEAR? What the fuck could you possibly do in a station that could take a year? I could hand-replace every single tile in a subway station, working alone, in less than a year.
They built the fucking Empire State Building in a year!

...

What the flying fuck?!?! Who gives a shit about wi-fi? Shouldn't that effort (and money) go towards reducing delays on the trains and overcrowding? (I know these are rhetorical questions..humour me.)

...

The train by my house is being completely shutdown for 14 months! As is the second closest stop. How do they expect me to get to work? Time to move I guess 😒.

...

Serious question: Does anyone know what the alternative will be to using a cellphone to get into the station? I only carry a cellphone at certain times for personal reasons, and even when I do it is not one with all the gadgets. Are they really going to not let people use the subway if they won't own and carry (powered on) a complex cellphone?

...

By 2022, or whenever this new system is ready, the cell phone as we know it today will probably be a thing of the past.. as will RFID... so it'll be interesting.

...

Everyone who runs the MTA, including the governor, should be in jail.

...

This is so far out of touch as to Enter the Theater of The Absurd. Clearly this half baked idea is one developed by people who don't live in The City or use the MTA. FINISH the work on The Second Avenue Subway before beginning another major renovation. People who use public transportation do not need WIFI, they Need to get to Work and Home. Closing down stations on an already overcrowded system is beyond dangerous. When the last time any of these nincompoops used the MTA during rushhour?

...

Hey, nobody in Astoria really needs to get to work, right? And none of the businesses on those main drags are going to notice the lack of customers, right? COUNCIL MEMBER! I NEED YOU! (Seriously...that is every station on the N/Q line between Queensboro Plaza and Astoria Boulevard!)

...

How can cuomo be building the subway of the next century when the 2nd avenue extension is now behind under his watch?

...

QR codes would be an utter fucking disaster.
As if airport boarding passes haven't already proven that they're unsuitable for fast-track processing?
Even under optimal conditions they're sub-optimal at processing people at speed. People are going to spend even longer blocking the turnstiles while they dick around with their iPhones to pull up the QR app than they already do pulling out a simple ticket.
Plus anything based on visual recognition is going to have a lens that gets scratched and/or vandalized to fuck.
Can we not just get a sensible contactless/NFC system?

...

QR CODES? SERIOUSLY?!
No, we couldn't take one of the dozen or so existing contactless payment systems already in use and deployed around the world (Oyster, for example), we're going to build a brand new thing based on the most embarrassing technology fad of 2014, which will require you to have your smartphone unlocked with the app on display as you approach the turnstile and will require a working camera behind a not-scratched-to-shit glass plate.
Bet your last dollar on this: this disaster will not be deployed any time before 2022, and when it does you will hate it with the fury of a supernova.

...

Astoria has just been sodomized without lube by the MTA.

...

How about making the cars not smell like urine. that's a little more important than wifi and charging stations. please.

...

So the Subway "for the next 100 years" is going to use barcode scanning technology we've had in supermarkets for 20 years instead of something like NFC that could be used without taking the device out of pocket? Fail.

...

I assumed the smartphone scan would just be an option, with a regular paper ticket still available for purchase, like NJ Transit does now. Smartphone-only turnstiles sound like a nightmare.

 ...

It's kind of messed up that only people who can afford a smartphone (and accompanying plan) can take a freaking subway ride. That's absurd.

 ...

"Ladies and gentlemen, protect your personal property...keep your
belongings in sight at all times. Do not display cell phones or other
electronic devices. Remain alert and have a safe day. But please disregard all of this, because you'll have to have your most valuable items in full view to enter the subway turnstile."

...

Request: Please make the N/Q run without as many delays and overcrowding
Response: FUCK YOU WE ARE GOING TO PAINT FOREVER

Dunno how representative these commenters are to New Yorkers as a whole, but Cuomo's "big" MTA "re-invision" plan is not going over well at Gothamist.

Cuomo's desperate these days to put his mark on the state, with all these capital projects, but as always with Sheriff Andy, the plans are big on headlines, short on practical details and where the money is coming from to pay for them.
 

God help us all if Cuomo gets this plan going.

Cuomo To Shut Down 30 MTA Subway Stations For USB Ports, Countdown Clocks And New Signs

Anybody out there use the 6th Avenue M/F stop at 23rd Street?

Say goodbye to it for a while, maybe as long as a year - this came during Cuomo's press conference today touting his transit agenda for 2016:

MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast took to the podium Friday as well, promising to "re-invision" 30 subway stations by 2020. The MTA plans to make these stations "cleaner, brighter... easier to navigate, with better and more intuitive wayfinding, as well as a modernized look and feel." This means more On The Go touch screens, new signage, new lighting.

Rather than close these stations on nights and weekends to accomplish this "renewal"—the Governor described the current approach as "piecemeal"—the MTA will shut down entire stations for an average six to twelve-months per station to expedite renovations. Will your neighborhood's subway station be one of them? Read it and weep/breathe a sigh of relief.

One of the stations on the list to be shut for "re-invision"?

The very busy 23rd Street M/F stop.

Because what's more important than being able to get off at your stop for work?

Why USB ports, countdown clocks and new signs!

The M/F 23rd Street stop floods like a, well, like a mother -----, every time it rains, but that apparently is not going to be fixed by Cuomo - nor are some other important problems:

After Cuomo's announcement, some critics argued that the MTA is facing more pressing issues than, say, "customer-friendly" initiatives.

There's the issue of extreme overcrowding, for one, and the $1 billion in funding cut from the second phase of the ever-elusive Second Avenue Subway line (tunnel boring for Phase II, which will serve 96th through 125th Streets, is now projected to start no sooner than 2019). Ambitious East Side Access and Penn Station Access projects are still a pipe dream, and delays due to rail issues are a thing most New Yorkers are now wearily familiar with. 

But hey, we're going to have USB charging ports and mew signs- wheee!!!!!

Many commenters at Gothamist feel same way - here's one of my favorites: 

"I don't want to get on a train and feel like a sardine for an hour and a half on the way to work. I don't want to do that," Cuomo extrapolated. "I want to be able to sit in a seat, I want to be able to listen to my music, I want to be able to make a telephone call, be connected to Wi-Fi. I've come to expect that."

OH MY GOD SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU GODDAMN TONEDEAF UPSTATE PIECE OF SHIT

And here's another:

Oh good. My station is on the list. Fuck you, Cuomo. The "piecemeal" approach may be slower, but if it allows a station to remain open that's highly preferable. That piece of shit truly cannot comprehend how completely closing a station for a year fucks people over.

All right - I got a couple more for you:

IS THIS MAN on FUCKING CRACK?????

To which someone replies:

Too much of Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa Cake this year.

M/F indeed.

Public Education Is All About Compliance: Obey Or Else!

From the Daily News:

A teacher at an Upper West Side high school was fired for creating a curriculum with lessons about the Central Park Five that administrators feared would “rile up” black students, according to a new federal lawsuit.

English teacher Jeena Lee-Walker said her bosses at the High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry urged her in November 2013 to be more “balanced” in her approach to the racially charged Central Park jogger case that ended with five black and Latino teens being exonerated after spending several years in prison for the attack.

They told her the lessons could create little “riots,” according to court papers.

Although Lee-Walker, 37, agreed to soften her approach, she argued “that students in general, and black students in particular, should be riled up.”

“I kind of wanted to hook them in, engage them, win them over,” she said. “I thought that this material was not only engaging but important.”

...

After several tense exchanges with supervisors, Lee-Walker received a series of bad performance reviews over the next 18 months that ultimately led to her dismissal, the suit said.

Lee-Walker said she was accused of insubordination and given poor evaluations not just because of the material, but because she pushed back.

She was fired in May, roughly two years after joining the High School for the Arts and six years after she began teaching in city public schools.

“I felt abandoned and mistreated,” Lee-Walker said of the ordeal. “I think a lot of teachers in the system feel the same way.”

There's still all this talk in the media and from politicians about the need to fire "bad" teachers and close "failing" schools.

The environment for education is toxic and poisoned these days by all the compliance mandates we have that are supposed to handle the firing of "bad" teachers and the closing of "failing" schools.

Danielson drive-bys, where administrators come into your room with the Danielson rubric and ensure that you're jumping through every hoop on the rubric, are meant to control and contain teachers.

They're also meant to give dismissal tools to administrators who want to get rid of teachers they don't want - regardless of whether they're "bad" or not.

There's nothing "objective" about the Danielson rubric - administrators can ignore all the great stuff a teacher does, focus on one or two supposed "flaws" in a lesson and give enough developings and ineffectives in an evaluation to get the teacher either put on a PIP or sent packing.

You can see how this worked with Lee-Walker - they wanted her to tone down her lessons, she agreed, but the "softening" wasn't enough for administrators at the school and she was targeted for dismissal and successfully canned after a period of so-called "objective documentation."

The message for teachers in the DOE - obey or else! - is also the message for students when they see what happens to their teachers who try and step out of the uniform and give something of themselves in the classroom.

That message is underscored by the EngageNY curriculum and Regents exams, which punish any thoughts that do not come "from the text" and so teach students that they are not to think for themselves, only learn what their betters think and figure out how to parrot that back in the endless "text-based argumentative essays" they have to write across classes.

Lee-Walker's lawyer puts this all into perspective for us:

“Ms. Lee-Walker is the type of teacher we want in a classroom,” her lawyer, Ambrose Wotorson, told The News.

“We’re not looking to turn our students into automatons. We’re looking to turn out independent thinkers — and she got fired for that, and that's just wrong,” Wotorson said.

Actually it's quite the opposite.

What education reformers want are compliant teachers who obey the rules, teach only what is supposed to be taught in the way the system wants it taught and students who learn to be automatons who are just smart enough to be able to figure out what their betters want but not smart enough to know how badly they're getting screwed by the system.

21st Century public education is all about compliance - from the system as a whole right down to the individual classrooms and the teachers and students in each one.

Bharara Sends Out More Warning Shots

From the Wall Street Journal:

FRANKFORT, Ky.—Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who recently secured the convictions of two top New York lawmakers, on Wednesday said the blame for corruption lies not only with bad actors but also with the “good people” who don’t try to stop it.

“People knew, and did nothing,” said Mr. Bharara, referring to the corruption cases in Albany during a speech before the Kentucky Legislature. “This, perhaps, is the most unfortunate feature of the status quo in my home state—the deafening silence of the many individuals who…saw something and said nothing.”

...

Mr. Bharara has made no secret of his intent to clean up Albany, which he has called a “caldron of corruption.”

“What has been going on in New York of late is simultaneously heartbreaking, head-scratching and comic,” Mr. Bharara told the Kentucky lawmakers.

He told the legislators that federal law doesn’t require an explicit quid-pro-quo, that it doesn’t matter if the official act was good for the community, or if it was done for a friend.

"People knew and did nothing" - hmm, that could refer to the guy who shut down the Moreland Commission that was investigating now-convicted felons Silver and Skelos in return for a budget deal.

"Federal law doesn't require an explicit quid pro quo" - that does have some ramifications for any investigations going on, including the one into the Buffalo Billion Project and the governor's donors.

Again, perhaps Bharara ultimately decides that he;s got nothing on the governor and Cuomo walks.

But all that frenetic activity from the governor the past few weeks, criss-crossing the state, imposing mandates, raising minimum wages, declaring major new transportation projects, handing out development millions to Rochester - that has got the deal of a very nervous governor trying to get some positive headlines in case something very negative happens.

Merryl Tisch Regrets Meeting Her Waterloo In The Suburbs

The Doyenne of Testing gives a farewell address to the troops on Tisch TV:

New York’s outgoing Board of Regents chancellor, Merryl Tisch, says the greatest disappointment of her tenure was being unable to convince suburban parents to “move the standards movement beyond the rhetoric and politics.”

The state’s top education policymaker, whose term expires in March, sat down this week for a two-part interview with MetroFocus, a public television station serving New York City and New Jersey that she and her husband help fund.

The first interview focused on why Tisch supported the Common Core’s rollout in New York and how it all went awry. The second interview was more of a reflection on her tenure with the Regents, which began in 1996 and culminated with some of the nation’s most controversial education reform.

Despite all the controversy, Tisch described her biggest accomplishment as New York’s move to higher standards.

The arrogance of the reformers, Tisch included, was on display when they thought they could rig the test scores and use that as the excuse for more system-breaking reform.

It seems to have never occurred to them that maybe, just maybe, parents wouldn't buy their bullshit story.

Well, they learned differently, didn't they?

Kingsie met his Waterloo in Poughkeepsie.

Tisch met hers on Long Island and western New York.

In any case, the interviewer has a happy ending for Tisch - this is, after all, Tisch TV, which is partly funded by Tisch herself:

As for her next move, Tisch would only say she hopes to stay involved in education policy, and asked everyone to stay tuned. And then the series ended with this interesting exchange.

Pi Roman: Some people are calling for you to run for mayor. If nominated, will you run? And if elected, will you serve?
Tisch: Oh, that’s — [laughs] — yeah, well, funny thing about that.

Oh, yeah - run for mayor, Merryl.

See how that goes.

What a stroke, er joke, from the interviewer.

When Cuomo Gets Challenged

Governor Cuomo was in Rochester yesterday to continue to tout his agenda and declare upstate and western NY an economic success due to his economic development programs.

A Rochester reporter, Rachel Barnhart of WROC-TV was having none of it and challenged him:

Barnhart: “We still have more than 40,000 fewer people employed than we did in the 90s here in the Rochester area, 40,000 fewer people in the workforce, 40,000 fewer people that have jobs. So how can you sound so bright about what’s happening?”

Cuomo's response was classic:

Cuomo: “So you’re a cynic. And by the way we’re gonna die some day, so let’s be depressed, right? And we’re getting older, so let’s be depressed. And it’s cold, so let’s be depressed, you know. You can look at the glass and it can be half full or half empty.

The video's even better.

Sullio and I added some more to the governor's statement:

@perdidostschool @NickReisman Cuomo: "And I'm under federal investigation, so let's be depressed."

— Sullio (@sullio) January 5, 2016

@sullio @NickReisman My donors may have non-prosecution agreements to cooperate against me, so let's be depressed.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 6, 2016

@perdidostschool @NickReisman Cuomo: "We dissolved the Committee to Save New York because New York has been saved."

— Sullio (@sullio) January 6, 2016

@NickReisman Make for great campaign commercial - things are better, if only we believe!

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 5, 2016

Cuomo clearly doesn't like to be challenged when he's touting his economic fantasy of an upstate utopia and he clearly wasn't expecting anybody in the Rochester press to challenge him.

How wrong he was and the end result was one of those wonderful Cuomoesque moments that expose him for the twisted individual he is.

The headline at Politico NY summed it all up:

Cuomo: Rochester's coming back, but we're all going to die https://t.co/CbdGf4onZG

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 6, 2016

Fabulous.

NYC Homeless To Cuomo: Housing, Not Mandated Shelter Round-Ups

The NY Times details reaction from some NYC homeless people to his directive that they must go to shelters when the temperature hits freezing or they will be rounded up and taken their by authorities:

Bundled in blankets and enduring the frigid temperatures that arrived in New York City this week, homeless people said Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was missing the point with his executive order directing authorities to pull them off the streets when temperatures fall to 32 degrees or below.

Homeless people need housing, “not someone telling them when to sleep and what to eat,” Sheila Turner, who is in her 50s and has been homeless for 30 years, said on Monday in East Harlem.

Ms. Turner and others who would be subject to Mr. Cuomo’s executive order called on the governor and Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, to create more units of permanent, affordable housing. Ms. Turner said she feared the governor’s directive would encourage harassment.

The Daily News had similar reaction from homeless people living on NYC streets.

Cuomo has already backtracked on his mandate after some criticism, with his counsel saying that the involuntary round-up of homeless people will only be for those deemed mentally ill and a danger to themselves or others.

That is already the protocol followed in NYC.

So what is Cuomo's mandated shelter round-up going to accomplish?

Why, putting Cuomo's name in the headlines.

You know what would be great - if Cuomo restored the $68 million he cut from a rental subsidy program that helped people stay in their homes.

That would be a headline I'd be in favor of.

It seems so would many people who are homeless in NYC.

"Got To Go" List Principal At Success Academies Takes A Leave

Surely this is voluntary:

The principal at a Success Academy charter school who created a “Got to Go” list of difficult students is taking a personal leave of absence, a Success Academy spokeswoman said on Monday.

Critics of Success Academy, the high-performing New York City charter school network, have said its high test scores are partly a result of weeding out underperforming and disruptive students. The existence of the list, reported by The New York Times in October, appeared to support the accusations.

At a news conference that month, Success Academy’s founder, Eva S. Moskowitz, said the list was an anomaly and that it existed for only three days in 2014 before the principal, Candido Brown, was chastised for it. Mr. Brown apologized, saying he was doing what he thought was needed to fix an unsafe school and that the list was his idea alone.

Still, nine of the 16 students on the list eventually left the school, Success Academy Fort Greene, in Brooklyn.

In short, the Got To Go" list kinda worked - more than half the students on the list left the school.

Alas, there also seems to be a "We Gotta Go" list for principals at the school:

The acting principal will be the school’s fourth leader since it opened in 2013.

Gotta love the attrition rates at Success Academies, where the only thing that counts is test scores and anybody who doesn't measure up has, well, got to go.

As for Candido Brown, the idiot who put the unofficial Success Academies "Got To Go" philosophy for kids not measuring up into writing, it appears he has to go too - especially with some of the parents of the kids on the list suing the school.

Long Island Superintendents Object To Test-Centric Evaluation System

John Hildebrand in Newsday:

Four Long Island school superintendents took their objections to Common Core testing and related “reforms” on the road Monday night to a public forum at Sayville Middle School attended by about 150 parents, teachers and others.

The school chiefs, all from central or eastern Suffolk County, contend the state’s tough new tests in English and math, tied to classroom evaluations, have forced teachers to spend too much time prepping students for those assessments.

 The result, these administrators say, is that students often have far less time than in the past for in-depth research on other subjects — for example, history and civics.

Cuomo's Common Core task force has called for a temporary de-coupling of state Common Core tests from teacher evals, but there's a catch - the de-coupling won't count for high school teachers whose students take Regents exams and "local" assessments will replace the state exams to make up the 50% test component for APPR.

So:

Local assessments will now b driving force in classrooms - get UR opt out letters in! Encourage others 2 do same https://t.co/a2kQo4H9Ov

— NYS Allies 4 Pub Ed (@NYSAPE) January 5, 2016

The powers that be want you to think a lot has changed in education post-Common Core task force.

The truth is, little has changed - "local" assessments replace state tests for many teachers, Regents exams continue to be a part of APPR for high school teachers and whatever Common Core tweaks the state plans will not disrupt the "instructional focus" of the Core. 

In short, same old same old.

Expect More Indictments Of Albany Politicians

Oh good:

Not only does U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara still have ongoing probes after already having convicted the two top legislative leaders last year, but state Board of Elections Chief Enforcement Officer Risa Sugarman has referred a number of cases for criminal prosecution as well.

"Everyone is on edge waiting for the next public official to be indicted," said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union.

 Since she took office in September 2014, Sugarman has opened 185 cases that so far has resulted in the issuance of 25 subpoenas and 11 cases referred for criminal prosecution to the state Attorney General's Office or local district attorneys.

...

Bharara, meanwhile, has a number of ongoing investigations, including into Gov. Cuomo's handling and abrupt shutdown of the Moreland anti-corruption commission, as well the governor's signature Buffalo Billions upstate economic development program to see if there was potential bid rigging.

And Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas has been looking into the travel records of all state lawmakers from her county.

New York - the Empire State of Corruption.

Let's see many more taken out in handcuffs - including the man at the center of the cesspool in Albany, Sheriff Andy.

Friedrichs Teacher Thinks Teacher Salaries Are Too High

In today's Wall Street Journal, one of the 10 teachers in the Friedrichs suit explains why he is fighting against unions:

Over time I’ve learned that the union’s collective bargaining is every bit as political. The union is bargaining for things I’d never support. For example, in my community, the union spends resources pushing for ever-higher teacher salaries. I’m in favor of a decent salary for teachers, but I think we are already well paid compared with everyone else in the Central Valley.

That's right - this Friedrichs teacher is fighting to ensure that unions don't negotiate for salaries because he thinks teachers are paid too much relative to others in his community.

All I can say is, wait'll he's successful at killing the union and becomes an at-will employee and he'll see how well he's paid.

Homeless New Yorkers Reject Cuomo's Mandated City Round-Up When Temperature Hits Freezing

The Daily News:

Homeless New Yorkers gave the cold shoulder Sunday to Gov. Cuomo’s order that could force them off the streets when the temperature dips below freezing.

“Hell no, I won’t go to a shelter! How’s that even lawful? You can’t force people off a public street,” said Luis Diaz, 31, who was shivering with his girlfriend on a Midtown streetcorner as temps hovered in the mid-40s.

“It’s going to be crazy. They don’t have enough room. They don’t have the infrastructure to do this. Where are they going to put us? If they’re shoving us in shelters with crazies and people who can’t handle being in there, there is going to be a lot of fights. We’re safer out here.”

“I feel violated by this,” added William Sanders, 45, who said he considered it “cruel and unusual punishment” to be forced into a shelter, where he said he has faced hostility from other residents because of sores on his legs but has been unable to get medical services.

“There is going to be anger and violence in the shelters if we go against our will. They are putting us in a really bad situation,” he said.

...

A handful of homeless people welcomed the new policy. “Some nights are really cold. You try to stay warm, but you can’t,” said Jose Flores, 47, who typically sleeps outside a Harlem subway station. “If I’m out here freezing, I’d welcome any van taking me to a warm place. People can die out here."

But most rejected the idea.

“That’s not right,” fumed Steve Jones, 63. “The governor can’t force people into shelters. We should have an option. People have rights.”

This is Cuomo trying to make it look like he's doing something about homelessness while really doing nothing about it.

In fact, he's exacerbated the problem.

Cuomo cut $68 million from a program that provided housing subsidies back in 2011.

He's not adding any more funds to what municipalities receive in order to deal with the mandate he imposed yesterday:

Cuomo's executive order "adds no legal or financial resources to NYC's programs to assist the homeless" https://t.co/6dpoBhKiL2

— Bill Hammond (@NYHammond) January 4, 2016

He's getting headlines, which is one of his main goals, and he's looking to make de Blasio look ineffectual, which is another of those main goals.

But as for alleviating homelessness with this mandate - not so much.

And as to his argument that it's the humane thing to do, it seems many homeless New Yorkers are rejecting that argument.

As to the practical angle of the argument, no one's quite sure how this mandate will work - kinda like other Cuomo mandates like his APPR teacher evaluation and the SAFE Act.

Cuomo's big on big announcements - not so big on making those big announcements work in the real world.

Cuomo To Focus On Closing "Failing" Schools This Year

From the Politico NY morning email update:

"On education, we have failing schools in this state, today, where we have over 100,000 students in schools that we call "failing" schools. Failing schools are schools that don't reach the basic minimum requirement by SED, the State Education Department, and many of these failing schools have been failing for over 10 years, believe it or not. And the system, the bureaucracy, has been too tolerant, in my opinion. And we are - we're going to be focusing on the closing schools, we're going to be investing in the school system to make sure we're doing everything we can on the state side. So we're going to have a very robust agenda and then the progressive government side that is very important to me." http://bit.ly/1NZjXzv

I can't think of anything more progressive than closing public schools and turning them over to charter operators funded by hedge fund managers.

Cuomo "Edgily Nervous" About Preet Bharara's Next Move

Fred Dicker in the NY Post:

Cuomo, meanwhile, was described by one associate as “edgily nervous’’ about the next move to be made by federal prosecutor Bharara, whose successful prosecution of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) and startling admonition to “stay tuned” has led to widespread speculation that the governor is his next target.

Dicker writes that Cuomo is also obsessed with turning around his poor job approval numbers, which is why he is suddenly changing course on issues from the minimum wage to education reorm:

The governor, the sources said, has begun displaying what many of his own staffers see as “peculiar’’ bursts of energy, in which he abruptly shifts gears on key public-policy positions in hopes of increasing his popularity: first battling and then embracing the teachers unions, opposing and then backing a $15-an-hour minimum wage, and refusing and then granting pardons to thousands of convicted criminals.

“He’s like a chicken without a head; you never know which direction he’s going to turn, and he’s frantic about getting his [polling] numbers up,’’ said a prominent Democrat who has known Cuomo for years.

He ought to be "edgily nervous" about where Bharara goes next.

There are at least two investigations that we know of being conducted by the feds - one into the shutdown of the Moreland Commission and potential tampering by the governor or administration figures, the other into the governor's signature economic development plan, the Buffalo Billion Project, and what appears to be a rigged bidding process for his donors.

As for his trying to turn his numbers around, he's been in the low-to mid 40's or below in the Siena poll for quite a while now despite his frantic attempts to increase his popularity, so good luck with that, governor (see here to here.)

I think the thing that might raise his popularity the most is if he is arrested on corruption charges and faces a criminal trial.

So many of the people I know are looking forward to that possibility.

Of course, the thing that would be popular there is not Cuomo himself but his, you know, arrest.

But hey, it's something.

Cuomo To Involuntarily Round Up Homeless, Take Them Off Streets When Temperatures Hit Freezing

Big Brother Cuomo going to make sure everybody stays warm - and sending another arrow Bill de Blasio's way:

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo will sign an executive order on Sunday that will bring the homeless in out of the cold — and it’s mandatory.

Citing the risks of hypothermia and possible death, Cuomo will require communities — including New York City — to take the homeless who live outside to shelters when the mercury hits the freezing mark, the Daily News has learned.

If they refuse to go, the order, which goes into effect on Tuesday, calls for the involuntary taking of the homeless to shelters when the temperatures hit 32 degrees or below.

“We’re in a period now of the winter inclement weather,” Cuomo told The News. “It’s dangerous for homeless people to be on the streets.”

Though Cuomo insists he is looking for a uniformed statewide standard to deal with homelessness, the order could add more flames to the simmering feud between the governor and Mayor de Blasio.

Without specifically singling out New York City, Cuomo’s executive order notes that “certain parts of the state are facing a crisis of homelessness unprecedented in recent history.”

Obviously this is aimed at the de Blasio administration, which has struggled with the numbers of homeless on the streets the past few years.

And in case there's any doubt of that, well, there was this "anonymous" dig:

A Cuomo aide recently said the de Blasio administration “can’t manage the homeless crisis.”

De Blaiso put some of the blame on the state and says he's got a plan to deal with the problem:

The mayor has said the city’s homeless crisis got worse after Cuomo cut a $68 million rental assistance program in 2011. After talks for a joint effort failed, the mayor recently announced a $2.6 billion, 15-year city plan to create 15,000 apartments that would cater mainly to people with mental illness and substance abuse problems.

Currently the city has a "Code Blue" protocol when temperatures hit freezing, with the city doubling down on the outreach to homeless people on the streets and letting people into shelters without the usual intake process.

But the city does not force people off the streets when it hits freezing.

Now they'll have to.

This is just another gin-up in the battle with de Blasio.

Cuomo doesn't actually care about homeless people or the mentally ill.

If he did, he wouldn't have cut funding for a rental subsidy program that kept people from, you know being homeless or threaten to eliminate state funds for homeless shelters (as he did this summer.)

He does care about one-upping de Blasio and making him look as weak and ineffectual as possible.

That's what's going on here.

The state is supposed to provide more resources for municipalities struggling with homelessness as part of Cuomo's mandate, but that remains to be seen.

Often promised monies fail to cover newly imposed mandates and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that is the case here.

And then there's the constitutional issue - is it legal to round people up and force them into shelters if they don't want to go?

Cuomo says it's fine and dandy:

Asked about whether such a move violates civil rights, Cuomo said case law is on his side.

“It’s not even a close call in my opinion or my counsel’s opinion,” he said.

“What we’re saying is these are people who are placing themselves in danger, and if you are placing yourself in danger, we believe as a society you should be given help because you can hurt yourself,” he said. “That is the premise to this action.”

Lots of actions fall under Cuomo's "People who are placing themselves in danger" premise - including smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol to excess or eating foods that are not healthy for you.

Shouldn't those activities be regulated under Cuomo's premise as well?

Enough with the bullshit from Cuomo - he needs to stop trying to one-up de Blasio, work with municipalities struggling with homelessness (not just NYC, btw - homelessness has "exploded" statewide since the recession, Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy), and provide more state resources to deal with the problems instead of cutting them.

In addition, he needs to take responsibility for adding to the problem by cutting state funds to programs that helped alleviate homelessness (like the rental subsidy program), as well as pointing fingers at others for contributing to the problem.

That's what an adult would do.

But Andrew Cuomo is a man-child and so this new "Homeless Off The Streets" mandate is as much about him as it is about solving a vexing social problem.

Preetmas can't come soon enough.

Then maybe we'll see Cuomo himself taken "involuntarily" off the streets.

January 2nd Comes, But No Cuomo Indictment

The Buffalo Chronicle posted last month that Preet Bharara planned "to indict Governor Andrew Cuomo on January 2nd — along with a half dozen associates and former staffers — on public corruption, racketeering, conspiracy, and honest services fraud."

Well, it's January 2 - a Saturday - and the courts are closed, US Attorney Preet Bharara is getting ready to address the Kentucky legislature next week over ethics and Governor Cuomo's schedule reads:

Governor Cuomo is in Albany 

The day's not over yet, of course, but you'd have to be loopy from Easter egg hunts at the governor's mansion to think a grand jury is going to indict the governor on a Saturday, one day after New Year's Day, or that a previous indictment will be unsealed today and revealed publicly.

So much for the Buffalo Chronicle story.

That said, this doesn't mean those looking for Cuomo to follow his two amigos, Shelly Silver and Dean Skelos, to criminal court should lose heart.

There are plenty of reasons to keep a close watch on where Preet Bharara goes next now that he's got Shelly Silver convicted on seven corruption counts and Dean Skelos on eight corruption counts.

The first reason is the reported investigation into Cuomo's alleged tampering with the Moreland Commission, for which Cuomo lawyered up, hiring "prominent white-collar criminal defense lawyer Elkan Abramowitz" to represent his office in the investigation.

The second is the investigation into Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Project - with subpoenas having gone out to Cuomo donors and state entities involved in what appears to be a rigged bidding process.

The third is how defensive the Cuomo administration is about the investigation (see here and here).

The fourth is the probability that if the feds start nosing around into Cuomo's donor base, they're going to find an awful lot of interesting stuff there, especially around all that Glenwood largesse.

The fifth is Bharara's refusal to let Cuomo off the hook publicly when asked if he's investigating the governor.

There you have five good reasons to keep watching the news wires for leaks about the Moreland investigation or the Buffalo Billion Project investigation that indicate the governor could have some legal trouble coming down the Thruway.

There are no guarantees on any of this, of course, and Bharara may decide that he doesn't have anything in either investigation and nothing comes of any of this.

But Bharara has a way of working with leaks that tends to set the stage for coming events (i.e., eventual criminal charges.)

He did it with Shelly Silver (leaking news of a federal investigation into the speaker one month before the criminal charges were filed in January), and he did it with Dean Skelos (leaking first in January, then again in May right before the criminal charges were levied against Skelos.)

The September leaks about the Buffalo Billion investigation and the subpoenas to Cuomo's donors and state entities involved in the Buffalo Billion Project bidding process were not good signs for Governor Cuomo's administration, that's for sure.

Those leaks didn't spout up from nowhere and if the pattern in the Silver and Skelos leaks is followed here, they're not the last we're going to get.

So keep hearts, folks - January 2nd may have come without a Cuomo indictment, but the governor's not out of the woods yet by a long shot.

We may have a Merry Preetmas yet.

Despite Silver And Skelos Convictions, Albany Corruption Goes On

NY Post with an editorial about how not much has changed in Albany, post-Silver and Skelos, except for this:

But the only change is that everyone in Albany wonders who might be wearing a wire.

The Albany pols are keeping the Glenwood money - even Sheriff Andy, the self-annointed reform-meister of Albany.

Cuomo also says closing the LLC loophole won't do much as long as there is no campaign finance reform at a national level, an indication he's not going to push very hard to close the loophole that has proven very lucrative for him.

The self-annointed reform-meister of Albany also says the legislature must stop standing in the way of ethics reform or there won't be much in the way of reform.

Which is ironic because Cuomo has a way of pushing stuff through the legislature that he really, really wants - you know, like teacher evaluations tied to test scores increased to 50% in APPR, despite opposition to the plan.

So the inkling I get here on ethics reform is, he's not all that down for it.

In addition, it seems the "Three Men In A Room" model of governance is going to continue, with the only change that Carl Heastie has replaced convicted felon Shelly Silver and John Flanagan has replaced convicted felon Dean Skelos.

Indeed, what has changed in Albany?

The cesspool remains as noxious as ever, with Sheriff Andy Cuomo up to his neck at the center of all the filth while claiming he's as clean as can be, it's that nasty old legislature that's dirty.

Cuomo (or the attack monkey who runs his twitter account) made some wishes for 2016 on social media yesterday.

I made a wish too:

.@NYGovCuomo I'm looking forward to seeing how that Buffalo Billion Project investigation turns out.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 1, 2016

Here's hoping for an early Preetmas.