March Of Progress Slows Down Or Stops Like Rush-Hour Traffic At The Holland Tunnel

Now that he’s a lame duck, other initiatives seem to be stalling:

A growing number of Assembly members say it’s extremely unlikely their house will support a revised congestion plan backed by Mayor Bloomberg, with at least two dozen now backing a different alternative that doesn’t charge to drive into parts of Manhattan.

“It’s not going to happen,” said Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Queens) of the Bloomberg-backed congestion pricing plan.

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn) added, “I never say never, but I think it’s pretty unlikely given the feeling of the [Democratic] conference.”

Blame Bruce Ratner For Permanently Ruining The Concept Of “Miss Brooklyn”

Either that or apparently women don’t take to beauty pageants like they used to:

The Miss Brooklyn pageant — a stepping stone to the Miss America crown — reappeared after a 16-year absence last week and was plunged immediately into controversy because the winner is a queen who’s not from Kings.

Leigh-Taylor Smith, 22, captured the sparkling tiara Saturday afternoon and promptly whisked it across the East River, forcing the borough to wait at least another year before it can crown one of its daughters with top honors.

. . .

. . . Smith, whose main qualification for being Miss Brooklyn — other than her looks, talent and charm — is that she is a parishioner at the Brooklyn Tabernacle on the Fulton Mall in Downtown.

Plus, she’s made the hajj to Junior’s and the Coney Island Boardwalk since moving to New York after graduating from the University of Virginia last year.

“Living in Manhattan, it’s nice to come to a low-key place like Brooklyn,” she told The Brooklyn Paper.

Before Brooklynites take umbrage at Smith’s victory, partisans should remember that it might never have happened had more genuine Brooklynites signed up.

“We only had a few committed girls from Brooklyn,” said Kim Thomas, executive director of the Miss Brooklyn Scholarship Program. “We couldn’t have a contest with only three girls.”

It’s Finally Time To Maim The Duck . . .

. . . because this means that we officially no longer have to pay attention to Bloomberg.

New York City, Where The Parks Even Have Silverware

I understand why it’s wrong to make cracks about the silverware:

Moving to close the books on a long and ugly chapter in New York’s employment history, the city has agreed to pay more than $20 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit charging that the Department of Parks and Recreation systematically discriminated against black and Hispanic employees in awarding jobs and setting salaries, lawyers for the plaintiffs said Tuesday.

In announcing the agreement, lawyers and the plaintiffs painted a portrait of an agency that under its long-serving commissioner, Henry J. Stern, routinely rewarded a handpicked coterie of inexperienced white workers with plum assignments at the expense of experienced black and Hispanic employees.

In addition, the plaintiffs charged, white employees earned more than black and Hispanic workers performing the same jobs, and those who complained faced punishments like being reassigned to dusty basement desks or to an office far from home.

. . .

According to court documents, statistics show that in 2000, 92.9 percent of employees earning less than $20,000 a year were black or Hispanic, while only 14.2 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $60,000 a year were black or Hispanic.

And, according to the papers, Mr. Stern and senior parks employees routinely made derogatory, racially charged remarks. Mr. Stern told one former employee, Tanya Bowers, who is Jewish and black, that although she looked black, he knew she was Jewish when he heard her talk.

“I can bring you home and know that the silverware will still be there when you leave,” he said, according to her deposition.

But what does that have to do with swimming (“Wasn’t that a requirement?”)?

“Productive” Is Fine For Mutual Funds And The Number 3-4-5 Hitters . . . Traffic Enforcement Agents, On The Other Hand . . .

The Bloomberg preoccupation with productivity goals continues to result in abuses of the system:

Alan Weiner, a 64-year-old amusement park manager, charges that after he got hit with a legitimate ticket on Queens Blvd. last spring, his car was then slapped with three bogus tickets in the same area over the summer while he was working in Maine.

A judge last month threw out the allegedly phony tickets after seeing Weiner’s proof that he and his car, which has Maine plates, were out of town at the time.

. . .

Weiner’s saga began last April when his Jeep Cherokee, registered to the Maine amusement company where he works, was hit with a well-deserved ticket on Queens Blvd. after he failed to get back to the meter in time.

Weiner said he paid the ticket and thought nothing more about it — until last month when the city sent him a letter saying he had three more outstanding tickets.

All three summonses turned out to be issued by ticket agents in the same Queens command that wrote the first ticket, T-402.

Earlier: At Some Point Isn’t It Just Easier To Simply Do Your Job?