From The Presidential Dais Ex Machina

Talk about “moral hazards” . . . so basically the city can gamble on getting huge tax revenues from Wall Street in flush years and then get bailed out by the federal government when all that disappears:

President Obama’s economic stimulus package will send nearly $3.4 billion in aid to New York City.

According to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the funds — part of the $10 billion to $15 billion in federal stimulus money the state is expected to receive — should help the city offset its budget deficit and aid shortfalls in education funding.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he fought to include in the stimulus package a provision to send budget aid directly to cities — to ensure New York City gets its fair share.

“This is a lifeline. This is the biggest shot in the arm the federal government has given New York City in a long time,” he said.

The package includes about $1.8 billion in budget aid for New York and $1.6 billion for education, Schumer said.

Maybe you don’t consider the city’s workforce bloated — eh, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t — but a economic stimulus via unionized workers’ paychecks doesn’t quite strike me as the sort of “shovel ready” project we’ve been reading about . . . besides, what happened to all those green construction jobs?

Apparently most of the “budget aid” is intended for Medicaid. Medicaid spending is higher in New York — fine. But the stimulus package isn’t so much about Medicaid as it is about stimulating the economy, right? And if the city doesn’t have to spend that money on Medicaid then they’ll spend it on other stuff that cities spend money on — like labor costs — it’s not like they’re going to build a bunch of bus stops.

Another note — and it’s an honest question and not a lazy rhetorical trope of “raising questions,” because I honestly don’t know the answer — didn’t the governor just expand SCHIP or propose expanding it? So is the “stimulus” a back-door way of funding it?

Unintended Consquences “Unlimited”

Who is really at fault for Caroline Kennedy’s humiliating brush with Governor Paterson? It might be Mayor Bloomberg:

Round one of Kennedy’s media blitz went well — a December 26 Associated Press interview followed by an appearance on NY1’s Inside City Hall. But the mood changed quickly the next morning. Kennedy walked into a reserved back room of the Lenox Hill Grill, on Lexington near 78th, and sat down with two reporters from the Times. She’d earnestly studied briefing papers on issues like immigration, the economy, education, and gay rights, and she’d been tutored by Ranny Cooper, a PR executive and former aide to Ted Kennedy. Instead, she was greeted with a series of questions on her motivations for wanting to be a senator — and soon became rattled and annoyed, her responses riddled with you knows and ums, which the Times, devastatingly, included in a transcript of the interview. Some of Kennedy’s relatives blamed Isay for not being tougher in readying Caroline for the interview.

Kennedy also smacked headlong into a newly emboldened Times city staff. “We’ve grown a pair of balls, and I’m amazingly proud of the paper,” says a Times reporter. “The turning point was the editorial page’s rolling over for Bloomberg on erasing term limits. The reaction from the reporters and editors is that we’re the last line of defense — we’ve got to hold the line.” Not for or against any particular politician, that is, but to stand up for small-d democracy. After inflating her candidacy by making her simple declaration of interest in the job the lead story of the day, they compensated by hitting her hard.

So If There Is Labor Strife Among Horse-Drawn Carriage Drivers, Will Teachers And Truckers Stage A Sympathy Strike?

It’s almost as funny sounding as graduate students joining the UAW:

The city’s horse-drawn carriages are rolling through Central Park with a new passenger aboard: the Teamsters.

A coalition of owners, drivers and stable workers voted last week to join the international union as they gear up for this Friday’s City Council committee hearing on a bill to ban the industry.

“This is not an animal rights issue for us,” said Colm McKeever, owner-operator of Shamrock Stables and a 20-year industry veteran. “This is a labor issue, which makes this a very natural fit with the union.”

Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 553 in Manhattan, said the new members wanted some juice in the battle to keep their industry alive.

“What they’re really looking for is to be part of an organization that has some political power and represents working people,” said Demopoulos.

“They just want to have their voices heard down at City Hall.”

There’s a historical tie, too: Local 553 represented coal-delivering carriage drivers at the turn of the 20th century.

“They saw that kinship,” the union leader said. About 40 industry workers, including the stable owners, voted last Wednesday to join the Teamsters, according to McKeever.

New York Now Officially Lamest City In The World

Yes, you know New York is over when the city has to tell you what to see or where to go, but hipping everyone to the supposed joys of Mars 2112 is just plain negligent:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a blog entry on the official Google blog announcing a partnership with the Internet’s most important company to unveil a new city tourism site: nycgo.com.

Launched yesterday, the site “is the official resource on the web for all there is to see, do and experience in the City,” the mayor wrote. It features listings of events, dining, and entertainment recommendations. The site will be managed by NYC & Company, New York City’s official marketing, tourism and partnership organization.

Google chipped in with their Google Maps and Google Earth applications. Users can find recommended destinations from famous New Yorkers with the “Just Ask the Locals” feature (From Cynthia Nixon: “My kids are crazy about Mars 2112”), then get directions and send the info to their phones with Google Maps for mobile. Other partners like Travelocity will offer discounts and deals. Media outlets, including Time Out New York, Paper and, well, we here at The New York Observer, have partnered with the city to offer some of their favorite destinations.

Not only does New York have about 60 gazillion guidebooks already devoted to it but there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of web content about it, either. So yeah, maybe it is duplicative for the city to reinvent Fodor’s but hey, then you might not have learned about Mars 2112 . . .

And you wonder why we’re in debt.

Not Even For Double Parking?

The delivery van driver who left his vehicle in gear while double parked on East Broadway has not been charged in an accident that killed two small children:

Chao Fu, 52, was driving the van for the China Chalet restaurant and catering service and double-parked the vehicle on the east side of E. Broadway near Catherine St., police said.

Fu thought the van was in park when he stepped out to make a delivery, he told cops, but it was actually in reverse and began to creep backwards on the busy street lined with shops and restaurants, police said.

The children, gathered on the sidewalk with two chaperones outside the Chatham Square branch of the New York Public Library, were about to walk back to the nearby Red Apple Day Care on Market St.

They were lined up against the wall, their arms linked, when the 9,400-pound van hit them, surveillance video shows.

Fu, who had a clean driving record and valid license, was not charged, police said.