“The MTA has to borrow a mountain of cash because the state won’t fork over the agency’s transit funds until the end of the year, officials said. Adding insult to injury, the MTA will have to pay the state a fee as high as $5 million when the agency borrows the $600 million needed to pay expenses, officials said.”

And yet… the MTA just left $80 million on the table to give Ratner the ability to pay it back over 22 years. Who’s running this government? Oh, right,  these guys.

Like the mighty titans of local coverage they are, the Brooklyn Paper gets candidates for the 33rd District (i.e., Yassky’s seat) to reveal their stances on a Residential Parking Permit program. Read them here.

Just read these candidates positions from the 39th District on Permit Parking and it got me thinking. Lots of points of view.

Just heard through the BPL site that the city plans to cut $17.5 million from the BPL’s budget. According to their site, the drastic results of that will be to:

• ELIMINATE as many as 272 positions – that’s one out of every four full-time BPL employees.
• REDUCE service to five days a week at most neighborhood libraries – with limited weekend hours.
• BUY 185,000 FEWER books, DVDs and CDs

You can send a note to your council member here.

It’s kind of a wonder this wasn’t already the law — that you’d have to clear up existing violations before you can continue building.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/05/21/2009-05-21_bill_to_derail_deadbeat_developers.html

From New Kings Democrats:

NKD to Host City Council Debate for the 33rd District in Brooklyn!

Tuesday, May 19th – 7:00 p.m.

Click HERE to RSVP on FACEBOOK

7 Candidates Are Running to Succeed David Yassky, Come Hear Them to Learn More. All of the candidates have confirmed their attendance. They are:

Isaac Abraham

Doug Biviano (CLICK HERE to view the candidate’s website)

Ken Baer (CLICK HERE to view the candidate’s website)

Ken Diamondstone

Stephen Levin (CLICK HERE to view the candidate’s website)

Jo Anne Simon (CLICK HERE to view the candidate’s website)

Evan Thies (CLICK HERE to view the candidate’s website)

A list of elected officials can be found on our site here: Elected Officials