BSR_p016

BSR04202017

16 APRIL 21 – APRIL 27, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP UBER ISSUES The state in its budget essentially approved ride sharing (Uber and Lyft) for the rest of New York State. That is considered by most to be a good thing, but I feel it is important that New Yorkers see that it does present some problems. The big one is that the Uber drivers outside of New York City are not fingerprinted as part of their background checks. Without fingerprinting, a thorough review to determine if they have any issues that should prevent them from becoming Uber drives cannot be made. This is the Uber corporate model around the world. There have been issues. Recently, a review in Boston of those who are driving with Uber showed that a large number of the drivers had problems with their driving records or worse that should have prevented them from driving for Uber. They are driving because they lied on their applications and the review done without fingerprinting was insufficient to identify the problems. In New York City, Uber comes under the jurisdiction of the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) that requires fingerprinting. Large counties like Nassau and Westchester can opt out of the state program and then negotiate directly with Uber to bring them under their regulatory bodies but until that happens Uber drivers outside the city will not go through the same review that Uber drivers in the city must go through. Another concern is the negative effect Uber has on the existing taxi and livery systems. The owners of the medallions have invested a great deal of money, as have the owners of the liveries. Banks have loaned funds just as they would to any business. You may say that is not your problem and argue that Uber and other ride sharing companies are the future. Even if that is true, government has some responsibility to foster competition and be cognizant of the economic investments of the thousands involved in taxis and liveries. The state legislation prevents outof town Ubers dropping off people in COMMON SENSE the city from picking up a fare on their app. Unfortunately, that is not a perfect solution since in other localities the Uber drivers have trolled for passengers which would be unfair to city Uber drivers, taxis and liveries. The legislation requires these out-oftown Uber drivers to use an app that will not work in the city. These cars will also have a marking identifying them as being from out of town. In the city, if they are caught picking up a fare, they can get in serious trouble. If you do not care. you should care. We are best served by multiple forhire services. Uber for its part would be just as happy if it put everyone else out of business. It is so large, if government WE THE PEOPLE is not watchful, it probably will be the only one left standing. Less competition is not a good thing from the consumer perspective. BY JERRY KASSAR *** The Brooklyn Conservative Party has interviewed Bo Dietl, Paul Massey and Michael Faulkner for mayor. In addition, I noticed there is a Draft Nicole Malliotakis for Mayor effort underway. Soon the Conservative Party will be making its decision. Many might say the candidate of the Conservative Party has no chance of winning. That could well be true. One other thing is true. It seems that almost everyone I run into complains about Mayor de Blasio. He is unlikely to get a primary. Thus, the Conservative Party candidate who might very well be running on the Republican Party line will be the only choice. It will be between that candidate and de Blasio. Four years ago less than 25 percent of the city’s registered voters bothered to vote. Yet, 100 percent complained about something over the last four years. The Republican and Conservative Parties will be giving the voters a qualified choice. If you do not vote this November, please do not complain. Government has some responsibility to foster competition and for that matter be cognizant of the economic investments of the thousands involved in taxis and liveries. BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP • JUNE 5 - JUNE 11, 2014 The slim Estes win in the GOP wilderness is a sign of hope that Democrats may gain momentum and recapture relevance through mid-term Congressional election victories. SIGNS OF SPRING Spring, a time for rebirth and renewal, sit amet, consectetur adipiscing urna in sem ornare blandit velit, volutpat nec vehicula neque. Aliquam semper euismod may bring hope of the same for Democrats looking for special election and mid-term election victories. Republican Ron Estes, the Kansas state treasurer, faced Democrat James Thompson in a tougher-than-usual special election to replace Republican Mike Pompeo, who gave up his seat to head the CIA. The campaign provoked a flood of late campaign spending by national Pellentesque sem metus, condimentum nec, laoreet at dolor. Sed consectetur ac, suscipit quis Republicans while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decided against spending significantly to help the underdog Thompson. That decision was based on the fact that Kansas is a reliable GOP state and this district last went to a Democrat in 1992. Mr. Trump won the district by 27 points in 2016. Thompson, a civil rights attorney, crisscrossed the district to meet with voters in diners and coffee shops, and went door to door to get support. His campaign energized grass-roots activists and frightened the GOP into action which may yet prove to be the turning point for the course of the nation. In the first congressional election since President Trump’s inauguration, the Republican in a Republican district won with a narrow 52 percent margin of victory. Mr. Trump was worried enough to make “robo” calls on behalf of Estes. Heavyweights Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan stumped for Estes, as well. Why would this be needed against an underfunded underdog? The efforts and monies led to a slim, single digit victory which Democrats will count as a sign of hope. Mr. Trump has inspired increased fundraising by Democrats. ActBlue, an online fundraising organization for Democratic and progressive groups, collected a record $111 million from more than four million contributors in the first three months of 2017. In comparison, after President Obama was re-elected in 2012, ActBlue collected under $17 million from fewer than 500,000 donors. The group stated that it took eight years to reach the four million donor mark but following WE THE PEOPLE BY BRIAN KERIN WE THE PEOPLE BY BRIAN KERIN Mr. Trump’s victory, the group received the same amount of donors in the approximately three months. Is it a fluke or is it the administration? An Estes loss would have been a repudiation of Mr. Trump in the heartland and definitely led to more active participation by Democrats in 2018 House elections. Still, the slim Estes win in the GOP wilderness is a sign of hope that Democrats may gain momentum and recapture relevance through mid-term Congressional election victories. The president’s party usually loses seats after a successful election: since WWII, the victor’s party loses an average of 29 seats during the first midterm election. Since Democrats must pick up a net of 24 seats to regain a majority in the House, they have a very strong incentive to campaign BY BRIAN KIERAN hard during every election. Democrats must find winners in traditionally GOP places like Kansas and Georgia in order to succeed. They should follow James Thompson’s example and get out and talk to voters. Locally, a man of the people has tossed his hat into the ring to become district attorney for Kings County. Councilmember Vincent Gentile announced that he is running for Brooklyn district attorney and will challenge Acting D.A. Eric Gonzalez and several other candidates to replace Ken Thompson who died untimely of cancer in October. Mr. Gentile stated, “I’m the only one in this race that can pick up the mantle from Ken Thompson." “Vinnie,” a popular Democrat, served in the Council for 14 years and represented Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights in the state legislature. However, he started his career as prosecutor working for the district attorney in Queens. He is a law enforcer and lawmaker with experience that distinguishes him from the competition. Hospital situation need of triage College Hospital seems to be destined Victory Memorial Hospital, Peninsula Vincent’s Hospital. proposed plans are short on service to on dollars in the pockets of developers. to believe that, as the city grows, increases prospers, fewer health Do we chain bank on hospitals? the company that wins the proposal be obligated to provide a large facility to compensate for the service hospital it will replace. Congressmember Hakeem Jefferies opportunity to complain that the NYPD low-level marijuana arrests in hinted that this may be an indication Blasio is really not serious about following through on his campaign promises to assure the NYPD scrupulously honors individual citizens civil rights. He stated that the “new administration promised change but instead we get more of the same.” That is not true. The number of arrests for low-level marijuana possession has dropped and NYPD policy is not to force a suspect to display small amounts of pot in order to make an arrest. Governor Cuomo has proposed decriminalizing possession of 15 grams or less of pot whether hidden or in plain view, which would take this controversy and its attendant political baggage off the table. It would be nice to let police offi cers perform their duties instead of being pawns in a political chess game. Mayor de Blasio has fulfi lled an incredible amount of his promises in a very short time. He has imposed the extra protection of an inspector general for the NYPD and signed off on the laws passed by the City Council which may leave police offi cers subject to lawsuits for negligent performance of their duties. He has provided universal pre K without a tax increase. He is settling the outstanding municipal worker contracts neglected by Mike Bloomberg for the next mayor to handle. He is championing Vision Zero to reduce traffi c fatalities to zero. It is unfair to question his commitment to his ideals or to the fulfi llment of his promises. The City Council will pass 11 laws and four resolutions to create a Vision Zero environment for our streets. The new laws provide a lower speed limit for city streets and enhanced penalties for reckless drivers. The state legislature must approve the changes. We also need the state legislature to provide a reasonable number of speed cameras to enforce the new laws. Let us hope that our legislators will work together as a group to see that these changes and improvements are made quickly. Brian Kieran is an attorney who works as a Principal Law Clerk in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Kings County and is a Democrat. dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing sed urna in sem ornare blandit nunc velit, volutpat nec vehicula neque. Aliquam semper euismod luctus. Pellentesque sem metus, condimentum nec, laoreet at dolor. Sed sed consectetur ac, suscipit quis felis tristique. felis Ut erat, rutrum non sapien ullamcorper vulputate id ante. Nulla varius, pulvinar congue euismod, eros odio vulputate nisi elit eu mauris. condimentum, erat eget posuere tellus varius arcu, a rutrum mi Quisque ac massa nunc, id lacinia vitae metus ac lacus fermentum us never forget Pellenesque tincidunt ligula non velit tempus orci pretium. Donec facilisis, odio et iaculis iaculis, sem arcu rutrum mi, a vulputate erat lorem porttitor metus. Mauris sagittis interdum feugiat. Fusce laoreet vehicula laoreet. Nam id accumsan magna. Vivamus a felis at lacus tincidunt sodales quis sed nisl. Donec vitae dui purus. Quisque eu nisi eros, et venenatis eros. Proin non lacus orci, eu ultrices tellus. Vestibulum nec nisl magna. Duis tincidunt gravida lorem, a dictum leo imperdiet ut. Sed eu massa in leo eleifend viverra. Proin eros sem, convallis quis adipiscing pulvinar, mattis vel purus. Fusce sapien sem, aliquet vitae tempor sit amet, auctor id ante. Pellentesque vel vestibulum sem. Cras lobortis lorem at lectus pretium feugiat vel quis libero. Praesent consectetur consectetur tortor vitae lacinia. Mauris turpis nisl, rutrum ut condimentum eu, elementum non neque. Vivamus eget vulputate mauris. Vivamus elit tellus, euismod ut condimentum diam, ac malesuada purus ligula nec mauris. Donec eleifend magna non justo fringilla fermentum. Suspendisse potenti. Quisque eros arcu,fringilla a blandit et, pellentesque sit amet risus. Fusce iaculis magna vel felis scelerisque nec suscipit nibh lacinia. Suspendisse potenti. Proin sed interdum justo. Sed sollicitudin tristique suscipit. Sed mattis, odio a imperdiet tempus, orci tortor pellentesque nibh, sit amet aliquet enim magna nec ligula. Curabitur suscipit enim sed metus adipiscing imperdiet. Praesent commodo scelerisque tellus nec ornare. Integer sit amet volutpat turpis. Integer congue condimentum urna, sit amet aliquam ligula mollis sit amet. Maecenas odio quam dapibus lectus sit amet arcu tempor imperdiet. Nullam porttitor posuere mi, fringilla laoreet lorem semper idm ornare congue arcu, non interdum mauris dapibus id. Aenean feugiat ultrices metus a vulputate. Praesent luctus venenatis purus sed viverra. Nulla rhonmentum tortor. Aliquam tincidunt molestie mi, tincidunt vestibulum sem rutrum bibendum. Integer malesuada elit commodo vel vehicula quam ultrices. Sed at massa sed lorem facilisis ultrices. Brian Kieran is a community activist who works Double decked headline fit alloted space “Mayor de Blasio has ful lled an incredible Mayor amount Bloomberg of his promises continues in a very to push short a fantasy time. that, if he had more power, everything would be okay. When so much is at stake, it is not the time to make political statements or play games”. vulputate id ante. Nulla varius, congue euismod, eros odio vulputate nisi elit eu mauris. condimentum, erat eget posuere varius arcu, a rutrum mi Quisque ac massa nunc, id lacinia metus ac lacus fermentum tincidunt ligula non velit vel nibh condimentum eu tempus orci pretium. Donec facilisis, odio et iaculis iaculis, sem arcu rutrum mi, a vulputate erat lorem porttitor metus. Mauris sagittis interdum feugiat. Fusce laoreet vehicula laoreet. Nam id accumsan magna. Vivamus a felis at lacus tincidunt sodales quis sed nisl. Donec vitae dui purus. Quisque eu nisi eros, et venenatis eros. Proin non lacus orci, eu ultrices tellus. Vestibulum nec nisl magna. Duis tincidunt gravida lorem, a dictum leo imperdiet ut. Sed eu massa in leo eleifend viverra. Proin eros sem, convallis quis adipiscing pulvinar, mattis vel purus. Fusce sapien sem, aliquet vitae tempor sit amet, auctor id ante. Pellentesque vel vestibulum sem. Cras lobortis lorem at lectus pretium feugiat vel quis libero. Praesent consectetur consectetur tortor vitae lacinia. Mauris turpis nisl, rutrum ut condimentum eu, elementum non neque. Vivamus eget vulputate mauris. Vivamus elit tellus, euismod ut condimentum vitae, molestie a lectus. Donec molestie, ligula consequat venenatis lobortis, libero eros porttitor diam, ac malesuada purus ligula nec mauris. Donec eleifend magna non justo fringilla fermentum. Suspendisse potenti. Quisque eros arcu, fringilla a blandit et, pellentesque sit amet risus. Fusce iaculis magna vel felis scelerisque nec suscipit nibh lacinia. Suspendisse potenti. Proin sed interdum justo. Sed sollicitudin tristique suscipit. Sed mattis, odio a imperdiet tempus, orci tortor pellentesque nibh, sit amet aliquet enim magna nec ligula. Curabitur suscipit enim sed metus adipiscing imperdiet. Praesent commodo scelerisque tellus nec ornare. Integer sit amet volutpat turpis. Integer congue condimentum urna, sit amet aliquam ligula mollis sit amet. Maecenas odio quam dapibus lectus sit amet arcu tempor imperdiet. Nullam porttitor posuere mi, fringilla laoreet lorem semper idm ornare congue arcu, non interdum mauris dapibus id. Aenean feugiat ultrices metus a vulputate. Praesent luctus venenatis purus sed viverra. Nulla rhonmentum tortor. Aliquam tincidunt molestie mi, tincidunt vestibulum sem rutrum bibendum. Integer malesuada elit commodo vel vehicula quam ultrices. Sed at massa sed lorem facilisis ultrices. Brian Kieran is a community activist who works for the State of New York and is a Democrat. Double decked headline fit alloted space “Mayor Bloomberg continues to push a fantasy that, if he had more power, everything would be okay. When so much is at stake, it is not the time to make political statements or play games”. COMMON Double decked headline BY BRIAN KIERAN


BSR04202017
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