Weiner: “That Guy” In Politics, “That Guy” On The Field

The Times’ David W. Chen must be on to something. First he punctures the myth that Anthony Weiner is the Best Boss in the World, and now he’s going after his over-30 league sportsmanship:

Mr. Weiner’s locker-room swagger may rub some the wrong way. He is prone to heat-of-the-moment arguments with teammates or referees. Even the way he chomps gum — fiercely, as if gnawing on a tough piece of steak — is hardly standard Congressional conduct.

At one point during the Congressional baseball game last July, Mr. Weiner jumped out of the dugout and yelled “Balk!” (a technical term for an interrupted pitch).

He later slid headfirst when advancing from second base to third. Later he argued with an umpire that a runner on the opposing team had left a base too early.

“He’s a trash-talker big time,” Representative Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas, said with a laugh.

Mr. Weiner protested, but only gently.

“I do mouth off,” he said in an interview. “But it’s just me being playful. And believe me, I get as good as I give.”

It’s Not Until You Start Making Noise That They Begin To Ask Questions

You start one lousy YouTube campaign and then the Post gets all huffy about CEO pay:

City- and state-funded cultural institutions are cutting programs and slashing staff — even “firing” the Bronx Zoo’s porcupine — and yet their CEO pay packages would make Wall Streeters blush.

. . .

The Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium and other attractions, is protesting a 55 percent cut in state funds with a video featuring a porcupine getting a pink slip. It plans to cut 120 positions. Yet CEO Steven Sanderson makes $901,000 in salary and benefits.

Less Budget Than Free For All (Hope Suspending Term Limits Was Worth It!)

Amid explanations of “NYS Base Broadeners”, the Administration for Children’s Services getting their message out, expected union reticence and media snipes at whoever else, a snappy pullout quote (“‘You can only get so much blood out of a stone’ with budget cuts and other measures, the mayor said”) and wildly optimistic revenue projections (“One . . . was the $100 million the city expects to rake in from charging people 5 cents for each plastic bag they use at stores . . . up from the $19 million they estimated it would bring in two month[s] ago . . . [a]n administration official said they simply looked deeper at the numbers, and discovered New York City residents use about 1 billion plastic bags annually”), the Mayor pulls out the threat of eliminating the proverbial school band (or cutting library hours — take your pick):

By law, Mayor Bloomberg was supposed to deliver a balanced budget Friday. What he submitted was a blueprint.

It matches the city’s spending and revenue to the penny, and is sprinkled with the sort of tough threats that grab headlines — like firing 14,000 teachers and hiking the sales tax.

. . .

The governor’s budget cuts $771 million from city school aid. Rather than spread that through different parts of the sprawling Education Department, Bloomberg said every dime of that loss will have to come out of a teacher’s hide, blamed on the governor.

That’s not budgeting — that’s bargaining.

Similarly, Bloomberg’s budget assumes that unions will give up $350 million in health benefits and $200 million in pension contributions.

“This is his starting point, and then there are negotiations,” said Gregory Floyd, head of Teamsters Local 237. Even the mayor’s plan to raise the sales tax by one-quarter point and remove the exemption for clothing is up for discussion.

“Bloomberg’s plan will be the basis for months of negotiations, all against a backdrop of an economy that continues to plummet.

For now, it’s balanced with phantom dollars. Those numbers need to be real by the end of June.

Everything but the kitchen sink, and then that, too:

Michael Bloomberg’s preliminary budget includes plans to lay off 13,930 teachers, and he’s putting the onus on state lawmakers to prevent it.

Here’s what he wants them to do.

The mayor said the state has taken away $770 million in education aid to the city. “What does $770 million translate to?” he asked. “Well, it translates to roughly 14,000 teachers.”

He went on, “I am sympathetic with the state. They don’t have any more extra money than we have.”

The solution, he said, is to have the state pass along the federal education aid they’re receiving from Washington.

The “state can send it to another county, or they can send it to our five counties. They are cutting us more than anybody else,” he said.

When asked what he’d say to parents and teachers worried about the cuts, the mayor said, “I’d call Albany, because that’s what I’m going to be doing.”

TGI . . . F’ed

New leading economic indicator — burying bad news on a Friday:

City Councilman David Weprin, chairman of the Finance Committee, is standing by his cell phone, waiting for word on what’s in the mayor’s preliminary executive budget.

“It’s the first time I remember in my eight years here that the mayor is releasing his budget on a Friday,” Weprin said in a brief conversation.

What does that tell you?

“That it’s not going to be a good-news budget,” he said.

So Now Whenever We Switch From The R To The A Downtown We’ll Fondly Remember The $900 Billion Economic Stimulus Package Of 2009

For $500 million President Obama better get a nice looking plaque:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority expects to spend $497 million in federal economic stimulus money to complete the stalled and over-budget Fulton Street Transit Center in Lower Manhattan, the agency’s executive director said on Thursday.

The money would bring the project’s cost to as much as $1.4 billion, nearly double what was estimated when it was conceived in the wake of the terror attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

The additional financing would allow the authority to move ahead with plans to erect an architecturally dramatic glass building atop the transit hub, said Elliot G. Sander, the authority’s executive director. However, it was not clear if the final design would include the project’s signature feature, a conelike skylight, known as an oculus, that would channel daylight into the lower areas of the station. Mr. Sander said the oculus could add about $40 million to the cost.

“The pavilion has to be many things to many people,” Mr. Sander said, referring to the glass structure. “It has to be a building of vibrant design with as much new retail activity as possible.” He called it “a highly visible portal to a modern transportation complex.”

Mr. Sander, who spoke at a State Assembly hearing in Lower Manhattan, said that he estimated the authority would receive $1.5 billion to $2 billion from the economic stimulus bill that is working its way through Congress. He said he planned to spend $497 million of that to complete the downtown transit hub. He did not say how the remainder would be spent.

The Fulton Street project, which is a block from the World Trade Center site, was originally financed by the federal government with $750 million that was earmarked for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. The project was meant to simplify a tangle of subway stations, topping them off with an eye-catching building that would rival the iconic structures planned for the rebuilt trade center.

But costs kept rising, and last January the authority said that while work would continue on the underground portions of the project, it could no longer afford to move ahead with the above-ground structure. The announcement was met with dismay downtown, where residents and businesses feared they would be stuck with an unsightly hole, a site where several buildings had been torn down to make way for the transit work.

Earlier: Yet Another Reason Not To Extend The 7 Train To A Convention Center That Doesn’t Even Need It . . ., Between Simpler Transfer Or Fancy Roof, I Want The Roof!