Who’s stopping who?
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been the most frequent defender of N.Y.P.D.’s stop and frisk policy, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told us she holds Mayor Bloomberg responsible for the large number of stops.
“As it relates to stop and frisk, Ray Kelly has implemented, I believe, the plan as his boss has told him to do it — that’s not how I would tell him to do it,“ Quinn said July 25 during an interview with the editorial board of Downtown Express and other NYC Community Media papers.
Quinn once again said if she’s elected mayor she’d like to keep Kelly on, but said she does not know if he’s interested since she thinks it’s a “jinx” to talk about any administration jobs before the election.
She did not say she thought Kelly disagreed with Bloomberg, but she did point out that the city’s crime rate began to drop without stop and frisk during Kelly’s first stint at Police Plaza under Mayor David Dinkins. In fact, Kelly was quoted as criticizing the policy in 2000 — a point Quinn did not make.
Read more about our interviews with her and other mayoral candidates in the next Downtown Express.
Trash Talk?
Speaking of Christine Quinn, she and Julie Menin seemed to be engaging in a little trash talk as they bumped into each other at our offices last week, but it was not at all like the traditional variety.
Actually, each was pretty friendly with the other as they may have been chatting about the proposed E. 91st St. marine transfer station. Quinn, the City Council speaker, was a strong supporter of the proposal, and Menin, a candidate for borough president and the former Community Board 1 chairperson, recently penned a Daily News op-ed in favor of the plan because the alternative would be to send more garbage trucks through lower income neighborhoods.
Not coincidentally, some of the most vocal opponents of the plan are also running against Menin, Councilmembers Jessica Lappin and Gale Brewer.
Menin also picked up the endorsement of Councilmember Margaret Chin Friday, solidifying her support in Chinatown, where the nabe’s major competing factions are now supporting her. Chin’s reelection opponent, Jenifer Rajkumar, has also endorsed Menin.
Liu Polls
Mayoral candidate John Liu told us the constant polls are a “pain in the neck” because they are so persistent and none even try to calculate the Asian-American vote.
“Something’s missing there,” Liu, the City Comptroller, said last week. “The Asian-American vote in this year’s primary is going to outpace the overall turnout.”
He predicts he’ll get over 80 percent of Asian-Americans, whom he thinks will turn out in slightly higher percentages than other groups.
He said polling firms can’t hire people who speak a dozen or so Asian languages or dialects. He thinks he’s really at 20 percent, not the 7 or so that the polls consistently show.
Honoring Vets
To the veterans of the Korean War and their loved ones, we’d like to say we honor their service six decades ago. Saturday was the 60th anniversary of the July 27th armistice agreement ending the war, and we were disappointed there was no ceremony at Battery Park’s memorial to the war’s veterans, and that it did not appear any visitors were aware it was a historic day. But we were pleased that President Obama did declare it Korean War Veterans Armistice Day and held a ceremony in Washington.
Weiner Resurgence?
Anthony Weiner’s poll numbers may be plummeting, but we noticed two very unscientific indications that all may not be lost for the mayoral wannabe, who perhaps is a recovering sexter.
Weiner heard boos last week when he took the mic at a hearing at Pace University to discuss the possible sale of NYCHA land, but the crowd, made up mostly of low income NYCHA tenants, started cheering him when he said he opposed the sale of public land.
Next. “Anthony Weiner is going to be the next mayor,” a Downtown C train rider said Tuesday loudly enough for most in the subway car to hear. We’re not willing though, to bet on his prediction or on whether he was sober at 10 a.m.
