What Else Is The City’s Pension Funding Besides Unionist KFC Franchises? A Druze McDonald’s?

And that’s what we pay him the big bucks for:

When a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Belfast allowed a mural depicting hooded gunmen from the Protestant paramilitary Ulster Freedom Fighters to be painted on the exterior of the restaurant in 2002, “the Comptroller’s office brought strong and swift pressure to bear,” according to a new report.

The office of the city’s comptroller, William Thompson, pressured corporate leaders of Kentucky Fried Chicken to have the illegal and divisive mural removed from the restaurant, according to the comptroller’s 29-page report.

By contacting executives at the company’s headquarters and reminding them that the city’s pension funds owned more than 1 million Kentucky Fried Chicken shares totaling more than $30 million, the comptroller was able to effect immediate removal of the offending mural, the report says. The wall was painted over within 24 hours.

. . .

With about $9 billion invested in about 260 companies in Northern Ireland, the city has been very influential in the implementation of the MacBride Principles [anti-discrimination policies for companies doing business in Northern Ireland], the president of the Irish National Caucus, Father Sean McManus, said. “I can’t say enough about the dedication of Mr. Thompson,” he said.

As Mr. T Once Said, Stay In Milk

Able-bodied Bronx residents can’t get lucrative union jobs promised by the city because they don’t even have GEDs:

When the city decided to dig up Van Cortlandt Park to build a massive water filtration plant, the surrounding neighborhoods were told that putting up with all the dump trucks would bring many of them paychecks.

“The carrot was, ‘If you accept this, you’ll have thousands of jobs for your community,'” said Community Board 7 Chairman Gregory Faulkner.

But while the trucks arrived on schedule, the jobs have lagged, disappointing an already depressed area.

According to U.S. Census numbers crunched by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, the district of Community Board 7, adjacent to the work site, has an unemployment rate of 15% — nearly three times the national average. Slightly further from the filtration plant, Boards 5 and 6 have jobless rates exceeding 20%.

While about 20% of filtration plant jobs during early phases of the work have gone to locals, most of those have been relatively low-paying security jobs, not the lucrative unionized construction jobs many had hoped for.

More than 600 locals have shown up at the Department of Environmental Protection’s Community Outreach Office seeking jobs, but most have been turned away as unqualified even for union apprenticeship programs, which require a high school diploma or GED.

Over half the working-age population in the surrounding neighborhood lacks a diploma or GED.

Dan Rather Might Say That They Beat Him Like A Rented Mule

Unless that letter home influenced like tens of thousands of voters, not only was it expensive but totally unnecessary as well:

Sens. Jeff Klein, Ruth Hassell-Thompson and Suzi Oppenheimer will serve two more years in Albany.

Klein, 46, faced Bronx County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph “Jay” Savino in the 34th state Senate District, with both men claiming they could better represent their constituents.

Klein led Savino by a comfortable margin throughout the night. Klein said his apparent victory was a validation of his first term as a state senator.

At Least They Didn’t Do This Yesterday

Today is as good a time as any to bury the fact that you’re voting yourself a 25 percent pay raise — retroactive to last week:

Now that Election Day is over, the 51 members of the City Council will turn to some unfinished business.

Like holding a public hearing today on a bill to give themselves a $22,500 pay raise — at an annual combined cost to taxpayers of $1,147,500.

The hearing by the Governmental Operations Committee is set to start at 4:30 p.m., ostensibly to make it more convenient for potential witnesses to go to City Hall after they’re done working for the day.

But no one would be very surprised if few — or no — members of the public show up to testify on the bill — which would also hike the pay of the five borough presidents, five district attorneys, the public advocate, the controller and the mayor.

“I’ll stay all night if there are people who want to testify,” said committee Chairman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn). “But that’s not going to happen.”

He said that while many taxpayers might object to the Council voting itself a raise — from $90,000 to $112,500 — “to actually have them come [to City Hall and testify] is another story.”

Drive In A Car With Someone I Met On Craig’s List? I’ve Done Worse Things With Craig’s List

The Sun takes a look at the New York City ride board on Craig’s List, with varying results:

Looking for a ride to Monsey, N.Y., or to make a quick trip to Lansing, Mich., over Thanksgiving break? Hitching a ride on the streets of New York is illegal, so today’s hitchhikers are sticking out their thumbs with posts on craigslist.org.

Motivated by many of the same needs that inspired their predecessors, virtual hitchhikers say they lack funds, desire companionship or the sheer thrill of an adventure, and sometimes act out of pure desperation.

The craigslist.org New York ride board gets about 25 posts a day, with about an even number offering and soliciting rides. Most posters are looking to team up for shorter drives to destinations along the Northeast corridor, but some seek cross-country travel companions.

. . .

A production assistant, Rudy Samana, who recently sought company for a drive to Florida, said he didn’t get south of New Jersey. “The guy I was driving seemed very unstable,” Mr. Samana said. “He told me he might get a job in Florida, but he didn’t really have a plan, and he kind of wanted to latch up with me, so I just turned back around.”

Then again, I think the people in this example thought the writer meant “Casual Encounters”:

Others said they had better luck. When advertising producer Grellan Harty needed a ride to Vermont last winter for a ski trip, he posted on the site. Kathy Jo Carstarphen responded because she said she was eager for companionship. The strangers had no plans to check in to a motel room in Middlebury, Vt., just hours after meeting, but were forced to do so at 2 a.m. when they got lost on their way. “We’re still good friends after sharing that experience,” Mr. Harty said.