Posts by Jeffrey Long

Sam Wright21 said:What’s the actual reality here? Could you walk me through some tangible achievements from this past year?

I certainly can. We’ve seen the total collapse of the proposed waste management plan despite trash pickups hitting record lows. We've watched the failure to roll back the ROD tax, the most massive financial deficit in New York City history, a budget that looks more like fiction than math, and an MTA fleet that's shrinking by the day. It's a pretty long list. 😁

Eric Adams' inner circle just can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that he’s the one actually pulling the strings behind this policy reversal. He was the one insisting the measure was legally sound all along. He even went as far as calling anyone suggesting an alternative rollout nothing more than incompetent amateurs. ☕

Those sycophants missed the forest for the trees; even CNN was tearing these so-called "mitigation efforts" to pieces. To quote them, there's zero space left in daycare centers, the transition period is way too tight, and the job placement and retraining programs are practically non-existent. 🙏 🙏 🙏

Now, we're just sitting here waiting for the budget to crater—specifically on the revenue side—along with a massive freeze on Zillow's income streams. 🍿

Emily Smith6 said:Stay-at-home mom: Everyone designs their own life, and this was my choice

John Doe has been utilizing this program since 2018 and has four children.

"Since I have four kids, this program allowed me to achieve things I couldn't manage with my first two. At the end of the day, everyone builds their own life, and this was simply the path I chose," John Doe said.

So, she’s opted out of the workforce while the checks keep rolling in. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens when the kids grow up and she's a 50-year-old looking for work with zero career history; she can pretty much forget about a pension. We might just end up with a future generation of people relying entirely on welfare.

Are you part of some cult? Because based on how little you know about this, it’s the only logical explanation. In reality, both social security credits and pension contributions are being tracked. 😉

Anthony Rodriguez8 said:The judge's take was basically this:

"The decision being disputed doesn't actually have retroactive effect; it’s more of a quasi-retroactivity issue... Based on legal theory and consultations with professors from three different law schools, the people affected by this specific measure had legitimate expectations based on final administrative acts. Therefore, in this particular case, a proportionality test had to be conducted. I believe the test showed that the goals New York City intended to achieve by implementing the disputed measure were legitimate, however, it is my opinion that the new measure itself isn't proportionate to the objective it was meant to accomplish," the judge stated just before the vote.

If I'm following this correctly, everything is fine, except for the fact that SHE thinks the new measure isn't proportionate to its goal. In my view, she shouldn't be offering her personal opinions; she should be ruling strictly according to the Law. If what she said is true, then there isn't even a single reason to dispute the verdict.

Kim, Kim... ☕

I'm not sure what you're getting at there, but I'm all ears if you want to start a conversation. kaže:
I honestly can't wrap my head around how anyone can actually force a mayor to implement a specific policy. It just doesn't seem feasible.
What kind of law even is that? We’re talking about taxpayer money here, not some legal settlement fund from a courtroom battle. There is absolutely no way this holds up in a federal court, let alone when you consider the massive lawsuits the state would face for handing that cash over to the city.

Anthony Rodriguez8 said:I honestly don't see any chance of this actually happening. This isn't even some major piece of legislation passed by Congress; it’s just a local decision handed down by New York City officials.

Those sandwich shops using those old-school panini presses... 😵

The holding is expected to see a slightly smaller loss this year compared to last, though honestly, it doesn't change much. Mark my words. 😉

We should also be seeing the semi-annual report for the TT "actual" budget quite soon. That’ll be the real litmus test to see how they've been managing those "imaginary" revenues. 😁

driftingtinker said:Finally, the blockade in Manhattan is over
https://www.chicago.com/konacno...ada-jakusevca/

Back in late August 2012, this whole thing dragged on for more than a week.

Brkaš is twisting the facts here. Back then, sure, the garbage trucks couldn't unload, but the residential bins were still being emptied without any issues. So, the customers weren't getting screwed over the way they are right now... ☕

darkhawk30 said:I don't know the specifics of this "scandal," but my first thought was that we live in a country where everyone knows everyone. People collaborate, they have connections—how are you supposed to avoid hiring someone if you actually know them?

I’ve landed plenty of jobs simply because people knew me. They knew what I could deliver, so they called me.
Or are you suggesting they should say, "She's great at her job, but since everyone knows who she is, let's hire some stranger instead"?

Try Googling her resume and then compare it to Teodor Celakovski's. You'll find plenty of overlapping stops along the way. 😉

To me, it isn't an issue that they want to hire their own people. The problem is they wasted an entire year playing the moral high ground, only to end up doing everything through connections anyway. 🙏

Tomašević's head of the Mayor's Office was already being hinted at as the choice long before the job was even posted. Then you have the new head of education, who is buddies with someone from the IRS. On top of that, he has zero experience in K-12 education—his whole background is strictly higher ed. And so on, and so forth... ☕

hollowmason64 said:Man, you really sound like you're looking for a fight. ☕

Look, we can't all be walking encyclopedias like you.

Because he clearly hasn't a clue what the various city departments are actually doing. It's totally standard for a mayor to be out of the loop on those details.

Do you honestly believe it's the Mayor's job to be auditing which doctors are due for retirement?

Frank Urban only ran those competitions for show. He already had his people picked out for those spots, regardless of whether they actually met the requirements or not.
That's exactly why Lovrić ended up in that role—even though he didn't meet the criteria. Frank Urban would just cancel the official search and appoint him as an acting director. That was his whole playbook throughout his term.
I guess Eric Adams' only real mistake is trying to do things the honest way.

They played it fair, though. It’s just a massive coincidence that the new head of culture was working hand-in-hand with those million different arts nonprofits... 🤣

Melissa Bailey5 said:Sam Wright21 gave you a pretty solid answer about why we actually need political appointees for public roles, which is something you totally dodged when she asked if you had any actual, logical explanation for why those positions exist in the first place.

Quincy:

So, looking at this past year, I guess the biggest crime the Mayor's Office committed was basically just making up a massive public ledger and setting these insane goals that they expected everyone else to hit. Sorry guys, but in my book, I suppose that's still an improvement over Ed Koch and his crew.

Basically, in just one year, we've seen:
- Bajakić's conflict of interest involving Arena bonds
- possible reports filed with the authorities because of the overlapping roles within the NYC oversight board
- that supposed savings of at least 50 million dollars annually from using shredders, which I think there's already a complaint out to the Department of Justice about
- the new NYC Administration—results, plans, anything? Zero, nothing at all
- them not following through on what they said about open competitions for new board members
- potential lawsuits from employees regarding the lack of restructuring at NYC
- Novaković, Tesla
- Vić, the apartment
- the cash grab
- yet another delay on the new waste management system
- that whole mess with the green market
- the fact that most department heads haven't even been picked yet
- the sanitation system falling apart due to (lack of) maintenance
...

I'll probably keep going whenever I can remember more.

The failed attempt to introduce civic education, happening literally one week before school started, and following the Conservative Party's curriculum, no less.

Ignoring the memo from GPZ regarding gas supplies to get the Mayor's approval—now that company is practically facing bankruptcy.

NYC record deficit

The botched repeal of the ROD measure, which ended up playing out exactly how everyone expected.

🍿

As for those department head openings—there is some serious shady business going on there, but I’ll dive into that when the time is right. Essentially, they did exactly what they used to criticize: in every single competition (or the few they actually managed to pull off), it was their own people who walked away with the wins. But they couldn't even manage to do that properly; they left behind loose ends that might just come back to haunt them. ☕

Rachel Barrett8 said:Those countries aren't exactly anyone's role model. Where on earth are you getting the idea that Austria, Switzerland, and Denmark are the benchmarks for our citizens?
The real role models for people here are Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Afghanistan. That’s how everyone acts around here. Honestly, New York City looks more like Kabul than Vienna these days.

Why bother wasting money and hiring based on family ties or political connections? Why try to connect ourselves to the Swiss, the Austrians, or the Danes? 🤦

I think there's been a misunderstanding. You argued that Berkshire Hathaway is a useless entity designed solely to create cushy jobs for cronies. I disagree. I believe Berkshire's can be fixed quite quickly—just not if we rely on the bluffers that Peđa grbin has stuck around Eric Adams. 🍿

driftingcrane18 said:So, you're saying the backing for these bonds comes from a balanced budget?

First, you grab what you need from the Tesla shed, and frankly, the accounting schemes don't even matter here.

This has nothing to do with the Institute, just how much credit New York City actually received.

The backing for these bonds isn't tied to the city itself, but rather to the future cash flows of Berkshire Hathaway. Of course, as the owner, the city carries the ultimate responsibility for Berkshire's debts, but let's be real: there is zero chance Berkshire Hathaway ever goes bankrupt. 😉

Rachel Barrett8 said:The whole reason they set up Berkshire Hathaway was to make it easier to take out loans.

Take American Water, for instance. They can't just grab a loan to fix the water lines and then use the leftover funds to build affordable housing over in Beverly Hills, right? (That's a small example, maybe worth about $300 million).

By doing this, you're just shoving layers of bureaucrats between the companies and the taxpayers.
And those bureaucrats aren't free. Even when they completely screw things up, their mistakes just end up getting buried under all that extra red tape.

Exactly. That’s why in other cities within the countries you’re using as benchmarks (like Switzerland, Austria, or Denmark...), utility companies are frequently part of a larger holding company structure. I suppose it gives their bureaucrats a way to keep themselves fed... ☕

It’s just one ignorant person after another. These aren't listed as liabilities on the New York City budget because the issuer is actually Berkshire Hathaway. Because of that, they stay tucked away in the off-balance sheet records for New York City. 😉

Alex Moore3 said:The May bill clearly shows eight pickups were scheduled, but they only actually showed up for six.
I'd love to see how they react when people simply refuse to pay for work that wasn't done.

If citizens decide to withhold payment, the administration will likely just try to send out collection notices.

If residents file a formal dispute against a specific bill—citing the zoo and their contract with ZGH, which stipulates eight pickups, and listing the exact dates the service failed to materialize—then the dispute resolution board at ZGH (or whatever they call it) really should have upheld those complaints, provided they were actually acting with any sense. 😉

Given the level of incompetence currently running both the sanitation department and ZGH, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to push through collections via public notaries. Then you'd just end up filing more disputes, and more appeals, until it finally hits a regular court, where the lawsuit would eventually be tossed out anyway. ☕

I went through a similar headache with the sanitation department a few years back when they tried to force me to pay bills that were already way past the statute of limitations... 🙂

Harold Phillips54 said:Today?
Today, on a major religious and national holiday here in New York City, the Sanitation Department is out there running trucks and picking up trash?
What on earth is going on in New York City?

Waste management doesn't take a break just because it's a holiday. 😉

Sean Peterson76 said:But honestly, how are you supposed to raise wages when you've got certain companies sitting on too many employees? Cutting staff costs money too, and it's not like you can just snap your fingers and shift that cash over to other departments. Plus, you've still got plenty of firms struggling because they lack workers or even the basic tools and supplies to get the job done.
I wonder why the unions aren't pointing fingers at who actually caused this mess. Maybe they should go after the Bloomberg crowd, the Republican Party, and their buddies who were busy treating the Banditos like gods.

And now, everyone's freaking out because it looks like the Boston Celtics might actually fold. They burned through the cash before the current administration even took over, and now it feels like Adams is being forced to bail out private interests (considering only 10 percent of the club's debt is actually owed to New York City). Sports turned into a luxury ages ago, and in this country, it's mostly just a playground for the Republican Party to farm votes. If they want to help, they should go ahead.

Regarding the Los Angeles Lakers, word on the street is that Eric Adams is clearing the path for one of the Green Party's major donors to swoop in like a prince on a white horse. Apparently, the guy is quite the basketball enthusiast... 😉

So, I’ve settled into a bit of a routine with my weekly trash pickups lately. My buddies over at SES in Kraljevac mentioned they didn't even bother showing up for last week's collection. Honestly, I am dreading seeing this month's bill—I have a feeling they’re going to try and charge me for eight separate pickups... 🤦

Scott Perez57 said:Just finished the meeting regarding preschool enrollment. In short—no spots left in daycare. Apparently, there are too many parents with multiple kids who opted out of the recent subsidies, so they’ve shrunk the group sizes to meet certain standards.
The only real shot we have at getting in is if New York City decides to start overcrowding the classrooms like they used to.
That’s a long shot, though, since we both work full-time. They basically hinted that our chances are zero—which is a ridiculous argument, considering how are you supposed to actually find a job if you have nowhere to leave your kid?

Of course, this is all just off-the-record chatter—thanks to GDPR, everything is kept strictly under wraps.

Well, the problem is that someone trying to follow the rules to a T would have to swallow their pride and actually demand that kind of mandate in writing. 😁

I honestly don't doubt it'll happen eventually; it’s just that Eric Adams will probably play dumb for a few more weeks, whining about all the mess he inherited from the previous administration... :-P

Word on the street is that during one meeting, Eric Adams actually asked Donald Trump to let each local school district set its own educational standards, but apparently, Donald Trump didn't even blink. 😁

driftingtinker said:http://www.abload.de/img/qfktg.jpg

Just one month of absolute, hellish collapse over on the West Coast.

If they had just scheduled this work for a month from now, when the city is actually quiet... 🤦

Mark Harris66 said:I don't quite get why Eric Adams is pushing back against the incinerator. If he’s actually worried about pollution, how can he ignore his own footprint? He and his wife have definitely contributed to air pollution with all those frequent flights just to climb the Himalayas or the Andes—assuming he's a mountain junkie, which, judging by my neighbors over in Canada, Canada, and Mexico, most people are...

At the end of the day, this is all about ideology. Some environmentalists act like incineration is some "outdated" relic of the past and believe recycling is a magic bullet for everything. It’s a bit of a stretch, really, because even the most dedicated recycling enthusiasts still produce waste that ends up being burned. Look at cities like Vienna; they used to send their trash elsewhere, but now they’re moving forward with plans to build their own incinerators.☕

When you look at these examples, the hypocrisy among certain green activists becomes pretty obvious. You see Greenpeace operating out there on the Atlantic, yet they seem perfectly fine using ships that gulp down fossil fuels whenever it suits them. I guess if it serves their specific interests, suddenly using oil isn't such a big deal, right?🙄

Sam Wright21 said:"Just" CO2 🤣

Exactly. This is supposedly the gold standard, all for the low price of half a billion dollars.

You seem to be overlooking the fact that waste-to-energy plants don't just burn trash; they generate electricity and thermal energy too. That actually goes a long way toward lowering the overall carbon footprint... 😉