When You Lie Down With Protesters With Open-Ended Demands, You Wake Up With On-Going Protests With No Clear End

There’s some small cosmic justice in the idea that a community board that tries mightily to close bars and prevent new ones from opening, complains about fireworks and works to deny a bunch of third and fourth graders the opportunity to commemorate Manhattan’s rich history now has to roll over for some out-of-towners bent on bringing the Financial District to a standstill:

Though little was resolved at the meeting following board members’ complaints of noise, barricades and the concentration of police resources away from where they say they are needed, the meeting signaled a change in stance for the committee. Last month, the committee had passed a resolution calling on city officials and Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zuccotti Park, where the protesters are encamped, to end the “intolerable intrusion” on the area.

With the demonstrations growing stronger and apparently without end, the full community board tabled the resolution and the two sides are now talking to each other.

“The best way to solve this problem is for all of us to work together,” said Scheffe.

It’s not clear whether this demand was acceded to; can’t find follow-up reporting about it:

Requests by [. . .] organizers are sure to make the agenda. “We’d like to demand the use of tents and tarps if the rain comes,” said one spokesman.

As for the rest of us, what do we care? After all, it’s not in our backyard . . .

Hiring Freeze Inches Ever Closer To Absolute Zero

Another “hiring freeze”:

Mayor Bloomberg imposed a hiring freeze today.

With the stock market tanking and the city grappling with a $4.6 billion project deficit next year, city Budget Director Mark Page fired off a memo to agency heads limiting hiring to positions needed to protect public health and safety.

“The mayor has directed that all hiring be frozen for the foreseeable future,” the memo stated. “Only hiring for positions immediately impacting public health and safety positions which help maintain budget balance through this period may be exempted by the mayor on a case-by-case basis.”

It’s not clear how this hiring freeze is different from the one in 2002. Or 2007. Or 2009. Or 2010. Brrr!

Many Companies Could Learn From These Rebranding Efforts

As if your poor mothers had one more thing to worry about:

In the months after a bus crash on Interstate 95 killed 15 people in the Bronx, federal officials were so concerned about the operation of the bus company, World Wide Travel, that they revoked its registration. But the disciplinary action seems to have had little practical effect.

The owner, Michael Shub, continues to book passengers on buses through two other companies that he owns and that share the same address in Brooklyn that World Wide Travel used.

The shuttered company’s buses are also still on the road; they were simply shifted to Mr. Shub’s other bus operations, according to state officials.

Third Term Meltdown Leading Indicators: Unsurly Mayor

Perhaps he’s trying to soften his image somewhat to secure place-in-history considerations:

Mr. Bloomberg was testifying in a Manhattan courtroom as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of a political consultant, John F. Haggerty Jr., who is accused of stealing much of the $1.2 million the mayor donated to the Independence Party in 2009.

There was no sign of the sarcastic attitude Mr. Bloomberg sometimes displays when questioned or challenged. And gone was the detail-oriented take-charge executive most recently seen during Tropical Storm Irene.

He was so uncharacteristically soft-spoken and concise that many in the courtroom had to strain to hear him, and some of his answers could have been contained in 140-character posts on Twitter.

Markedly different than what took place back in 2009:

But the mayor displayed his testy and sarcastic side, as evidenced when Ms. Wong read a passage from his 1997 memoir, “Bloomberg by Bloomberg”:

“‘And God forbid one of our people go to work for a competitor, then we all heartily and cordially really do hope they fail. In their new job, they have an avowed purpose to hurt their old co-workers. They’ve become bad people. Period. We have a loyalty to us. Leave, and you’re them.’ Did I read that accurately?”

“Your reading is good,” the mayor replied.

“Thank you,” Ms. Wong said. “Do you continue to believe that statement today?”

“More so than ever before.”

Maybe Peter Vallone Jr. Is Comfortable With The Fact That The NYPD Has Shit That Can Take Down A Jet But Most Of Us Feel Like, Honestly, It’s A Little Fucked Up

And I am so sick of the Live-Free-Or-Die-esque “we can’t rely on the feds to save us” argument; you’re insane if you think a city bureaucracy of 40,000 isn’t capable of being compromised in some way:

The NYPD can take down terror planes from the skies, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Sunday night.

The city’s top cop answered with a firm “Yes” when “60 Minutes” interviewer Scott Pelley asked if the New York City police had the equipment and training to do so.

“Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?” asked Pelley.

“Yes, I prefer not to get into the details, but obviously this would be in a very extreme situation,” Kelly answered.