Did Bloomberg Pay Street Money To Get Reelected?

Street money? Are you kidding me? Was he watching that Cory Booker movie or something? That’s what some are suggesting after details of a mysterious campaign expenditure emerged in the Post:

A $750,000 personal campaign contribution that Mayor Bloomberg channeled through the state Independence Party during last year’s mayoral election landed in the hands of a top aide, The Post has learned.

The aide, John Haggerty Jr., served as a Bloomberg “volunteer involved in some of the activities” of Special Election Operations LLC, a hastily formed company that hired 200 to 300 workers to do poll watching on Election Day, according to Ken Gross, counsel to the campaign.

. . .

One veteran GOP consultant said he believed Special Election Operations was designed to dispense “street money” — cash that’s spread around on Election Day to volunteers and for such incidentals as lunch.

But Howard Wolfson, the mayor’s campaign spokesman, insisted the $750,000 — part of a $1.2 million personal contribution Bloomberg made to the state Independence Party right before the election — didn’t go for that purpose.

“The [Independence Party] made the same Election Day expenses that all party committees make every election for Election Day workers,” he said in an e-mail.

“Because the IP does not have the infrastructure to handle this kind of activity in-house, it used Special Election Operations to handle the payroll payments to all these individuals.”

Wolfson’s “explanation” even sounds like it’s street money. And $750,000? That’s not even close to what was suggested Obama would have to spend to get elected in Philadelphia. We’re taking a lot of pizza parties!

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.

Wait, That’s What Those Things Are For?

If I saw a fire, I don’t think I would ever think to look for one of those things, much less know how to use it:

Since 85% of calls made through the street boxes are false alarms, Bloomberg said, “In the days where everybody has cell phones … the city would be just as safe without them.”

Only 140 structural fires last year out of 26,666 were first called in through an alarm box – and phone calls on those fires came in after the boxes were pulled, according to the FDNY.

(Wow, I’m scared that I actually agree with the mayor on this . . .)

Good News/Bad News

The good news is that the city’s 14 sewage plants are finally meeting Clean Water Act standards. The bad news is that it’s really, really expensive to upgrade sewage treatment plants. And that’s part of the reason it’s so expensive to live here:

New DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway said the performance will further improve once ongoing projects like the $5 billion upgrade of Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek plant are completed.

$5 billion! Is that a typo? Jeez . . .

Location Scout: Newtown Creek.

The Winners And Losers In The Mayor’s Global War On Salt

I don’t know who actually wins, but Katz’s comes out looking quite bad:

As an experiment, I picked up some signature dishes at popular New York spots. I got the works at Shake Shack. A New York strip steak with creamed spinach at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse. From Ollie’s, the Chinese chain, cumin-flavored lamb (“I eat that and need to consume about a gallon of water afterward,” one foodie warned me). A slice of candy bar pie from Momofuku Milk Bar, because a sprinkle of salt gives desserts there an edge. House-made saffron pappardelle with braised rabbit at the Standard Grill, because it looked so luscious. The corned beef at Katz’s Delicatessen, because, well, how could you not?

. . .

The Food and Drug Administration recommends a maximum of 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day, 1,500 for people who have hypertension, are African-American (who are at higher risk of hypertension) or are beyond an unspecified middle age.

. . .

A large take-out container of Manhattan clam chowder at the Oyster Bar weighed in at a scary 3,100 milligrams (without the little crackers). And Katz’s?

Katz’s justifiably famous corned beef sandwich, with mustard but only two of the six pickles the counter guy gave me (along with his number), came to a truly remarkable 4,490 milligrams of sodium. That’s two whole days’ worth in one sandwich, nearly the equivalent of 10 McDonald’s hamburgers.

Location Scout: Katz’s Delicatessen.

We Elected Bloomberg In Part For His Cunning Business Acumen

It’s a genius plan — taxing jet fuel will raise millions and mean that fewer of us will leave the city, leading to even more spending at home:

He proposed a sales tax on airplane fuel yesterday as part of his spending plan for the 2011 fiscal year, a move that could mean the cost of flying will soar.

. . .

By extending the 8.875% sales tax to jet fuel at airports, he expects to raise $169 million. Airline executives wouldn’t say how the tax would spill over to customers – but they are against the plan.