Enews\capny\dec30 By Azi Paybarah in Manhattan, Jimmy Vielkind in Albany and Mike Allen in D.C., with Daniel Lippman FEDS TARGET SILVER -- Times 1-col. lead (New York Edition; below fold in National Edition), “ASSEMBLY LEADER SAID TO BE FOCUS OF A U.S. INQUIRY: UNDISCLOSED PAYMENTS -- Prosecutors Ask What Kind of Work Silver Did for Law Firm,” by William K. Rashbaum, Thomas Kaplan and Susanne Craig, with Griffin Palmer: “Federal authorities are investigating substantial payments made to the State Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, by a small law firm that seeks real estate tax reductions for commercial and residential properties in New York City ... Prosecutors from the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and [FBI] agents ... have found that the law firm, Goldberg & Iryami, P.C., has paid Mr. Silver the sums over roughly a decade, but that he did not list that income on his annual financial disclosure forms, as required. … “The investigation … grew out of the work of the Moreland Commission … Silver ... is a personal injury lawyer. He is not known to have any expertise in the complex and highly specialized area of the law in which Goldberg & Iryami practices, known as tax certiorari, which involves challenging real estate tax assessments and seeking reductions from municipalities. Mr. Silver’s income from his private law practice well exceeds his legislative salary, which as speaker totals $121,000. On his most recent financial disclosure form, for 2013, he reported earning more than $650,000 from his outside legal work. But what he does to earn that money has long been shrouded in secrecy.” nyti.ms/13POmxG GRIMM QUITS -- Capital’s Colby Hamilton: “Rep. Michael Grimm of Staten Island, who last week pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud, released a statement on Monday night confirming reports he will resign from Congress. ‘After much thought and prayer, I have made the very difficult decision to step down from Congress effective January 5th, 2015,’ Grimm said in the statement released by his office. ‘This decision is made with a heavy heart, as I have enjoyed a very special relationship and closeness with my constituents, whom I care about deeply.’” capi.tl/1rwsGBy TABS: Post, “CRIME WAIVE: NYPD BUSTS DOWN 66% -- Traffic stops down 94% -- Disorderly down 94%” … News, “MOMENT OF TRUCE: Blaz calls summit with cop-union bigs -- Mayor, Lynch take first step in healing city.” --“Wary NYPD cops letting minor crimes slide,” by Post’s Larry Celona, Dana Sauchelli, Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding: “With cops on edge, … many officers have started turning a blind eye to some minor crimes, sources told The Post, while a union mandate that two patrol cars respond to all police calls has led to slower response times to non-emergencies.‘I’m not writing any summonses. Do you think I’m going to stand there so someone can shoot me or hit me in the head with an ax?’ [o]ne cop said.” bit.ly/1B0ZfJY --A WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL, “What De Blasio Won’t See: New York’s mayor doesn’t understand how police maintain order,” quotes the Post story and calls the news “ominous for social order in America’s largest city.” on.wsj/1Bg7HmM --TIMES EDITORIAL, “Police Respect Squandered in Attacks on de Blasio”: “With these acts of passive-aggressive contempt and self-pity, many New York police officers, led by their union, are squandering the department’s credibility, defacing its reputation, shredding its hard-earned respect. They have taken the most grave and solemn of civic moments — a funeral of a fallen colleague — and hijacked it for their own petty look-at-us gesture. In doing so, they also turned their backs on Mr. Ramos’s widow and her two young sons, and others in that grief-struck family. These are disgraceful acts, which will be compounded if anyone repeats the stunt at Officer Liu’s funeral on Sunday.” nyti.ms/1wxFhA3 --CHRIS SMITH in NY Mag, “For de Blasio and the NYPD, Mere Boos Are Progress”: “Reducing the rhetorical volume is clearly a large part of the mayor’s strategy. He hasnt answered questions from reporters in seven days, making only scripted remarks and allowing Bratton to take much of the spotlight. One of the things that’s filling the void — and is surely welcomed by City Hall — are stories about whether the cops overplayed their hand at Saturday’s funeral. Union leadership is clearly aware that it has started something that it can’t control — many of the cops who turned their backs on de Blasio at the funeral appeared to be from out of town — and that could backfire and cost the cops sympathy.” nym.ag/1zsEPFm MORE DOUBLE-DIPPERS—Capital’s Jimmy Vielkind: Starting next year, nine state lawmakers … will begin drawing pensions on top of their salaries. According to Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, nine lawmakers who were just reelected have filed applications for retirement … Republican state senators Tom Libous, John Bonacic, John DeFrancisco, Ken LaValle and Kemp Hannon all submitted applications, according to DiNapoli … They were joined by Assemblymen Gary Pretlow, Jeff Aubry, Bill Magee—all Democrats—as well as David McDonough, a Republican from Long Island. bit.ly/1B0N9QR CUOMO VETOES EVALUATION BILL—Capital’s Jessica Bakeman: The governor late Monday vetoed a bill he introduced during the 2014 legislative session that would have created a safety net for teachers whose performance evaluations were negatively affected by the rough rollout of the Common Core standards. “The 2013-14 teacher evaluation results recently released by the State Education Department are not an accurate assessment—only 0.7% of teachers were rated ineffective, ... and so the legislation is not necessary, Cuomo wrote in the veto memo. These temporary provisions do not fix the foundational issues with the teacher evaluation system. Given what we know now, it would make no sense to sign this bill and further inflate these already inflated ratings. bit.ly/1xuAXc2 HISTORY LESSON – “How a Ferry Ride Helped Make Brooklyn the Original Suburb,” by Times’ Sam Roberts: “This much is known about the maiden voyage of the Nassau: The twin-hulled boat carried 549 passengers, one wagon and three horses. ... What is unknown is the name of the first passenger — the man ... who on May 10, 1814, boarded the Nassau, the first regularly scheduled steam-powered ferry from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Whoever he was, he can justly be called America’s first commuter. “Since then, for fully two centuries, millions of his fellow travelers have arrived by bridge, railroad, trolley, elevated train, subway, automobile, bus, helicopter, bicycle and, more recently, by revived ferry service in the diurnal ebb and flow that arguably transformed Brooklyn Heights into the nation’s first suburb, gave New York City what E. B. White described as its ‘tidal restlessness,’ inspired the terms rush hour, bedroom community and urban sprawl and now nearly doubles Manhattan’s population on weekdays.” nyti.ms/1A70dTm EAT BEAT -- “8 Things We Learned About Shake Shack From Its IPO Filing,” by BuzzFeed’s Matt Lynley and Tom Gara: “New Yorkers love the Shack. The company is expanding across the country and the world, but its Manhattan outlets are the highlights, averaging $7.4 million in annual sales at each restaurant. That’s equivalent to about 1.5 million of its $4.95 Shackburgers, which would equal more than 4,000 burgers sold each day, per location. Manhattan is the star market for the chain, with average store sales almost double that of non-Manhattan outlets.” bzfd.it/13PNhWC --“The Most Obnoxious Wall Street Bars Of 2014,” by Business Insider’s Stephanie Yang and Elena Holodny: “230 Fifth 230 5th Ave, Gramercy ... Turtle Bay 987 2nd Ave, Midtown … Irish Punt 40 Exchange Place, Financial District … Johnny Utah’s 25 W 51st St, Midtown … Joshua Tree 513 3rd Avenue, Murray Hill … Whiskey Trader W 55th St, Midtown … McFadden’s 800 2nd Ave, Midtown … Patriot Saloon 110 Chambers St, Tribeca … Plunge 18 9th Ave, Meatpacking District … Ulysses 95 Pearl Street, Financial District … Stone Street Tavern 52 Stone Street, Financial District … Tonic 727 7th Avenue, Midtown West and 411 3rd Avenue, Murray Hill … Lavo 39 East 58th Street … Brother Jimmys LoVarious … The Biergarten at the Standard The Standard Hotel — 848 Washington St.” read.bi/1rwwtyV BROADWAY BUZZ -- “Broadway box offices bulging with holiday profits,” by AP’s Mark Kennedy: “Theater-goers were generous to Broadway producers this holiday season, with 19 of the current 36 shows breaking the $1 million mark for the week and almost 30,000 more people in the seats than last Christmastime. The Broadway League said Monday that shows on the Great White Way pulled in $40,993,950 for the week ending Sunday, better than the same week last year when 30 shows attracted $38,783,854. Attendance also went from 290,386 in 2013 to 318,721 this year.” yhoo.it/1xdumR2 THE TALK OF WALL STREET -- WSJ A1, “Tech Startup Values Reach the Sky,” by Evelyn M. Rusli: “This year, venture capitalists, mutual funds and big banks bestowed valuations of $1 billion or more on about 40 startups world-wide, doubling the number … at the start of the year … Adjusted for inflation, the … roster of 70 ‘billion dollar’ startups globally is nearly twice as large as … during the boom years 1999 and 2000.” on.wsj/1D3NNfX #UpstateAmerica: Walter Kowalczyk, who was elected to the Perth Town Board in 1965, is likely the longest serving state official. bit.ly/1BfJzAI COFFEE BREAK -- “Debutantes trade ball gowns for rockin’ New Year’s frocks,” by Post’s Mackenzie Dawson: “Forty-six American women will make their bows to society this year at the International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria — but only five of them will be representing the Big Apple and its metro area. The ball, which dates back to 1954, conjures up images of young ladies straight out of the Social Register, presented as being of marriageable age. While today’s women are certainly from well-connected families, the ball’s website stresses that a contemporary debutante is a young woman of college age — [the] emphasis [is] on college, not marriage.” bit.ly/1CR1SAd =================================
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:54:52 +0000
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