North by South

Got(baum) A Complaint?

New York City's government system is a never ending maze of titles, red tape, and public offices that seem to serve very few purposes beyond confusing the citizens they supposedly serve.

Take Betsy Gotbaum, the latest subject of our reoccurring feature, "What Does This Politician Do?" She is New York City's public advocate, which speaks volumes about our system seeing as how the city has to actually employ someone to advocate for the public. The public advocate, according to the official web page, is a publically elected office also known as the "ombudswoman, or go-between[.] The Public Advocate answers complaints about people's problems with city government, investigates ineffective agencies and programs, proposes solutions that make government more efficient, and helps communities gain better access to government.

The Public Advocate is responsible for reporting the failure of any City agency or official to comply with the New York City Charter. The office also monitors the effectiveness of the City's public information and education efforts about citywide initiatives."

Unfortunately, Gotbaum's term as public advocate is ending and the race for her replacement is heating up. The Democratic candidates are Bill de Blasio, Eric N. Gioia, Mark Green, Norman H. Siegel, and Imtiaz S. Syed. The only Republican candidate is Alex T. Zablocki.

 

While all of these candidates are sporting fancy political resumes, it seems likely that this public office is just another pit stop for those participating in the three ring circus of New York politics. How many useless public offices can they create for this city? Can the citizens of New York just start creating their own?

Trash Talking

Although this is a complaint that is often heard echoing around many New York neighborhoods, it's an important complaint. One that everyone in the neighborhood produces, sees, and deals with. It's everywhere - the streets, in our homes, in front of our buildings, and overflowing on our street corners.

It's trash.

And for someone reason, these can't make it into here:

It's everywhere, and it's disgusting. 

While there are many beautiful tree lined streets in Prospect Heights, Lincoln Place is not one of them. It's not for a lack of trying - there are small unhealthy trees attempting to grow in their own little squares of dirt, people hang window boxes full of flowers, and many fire escapes are illegally lined with plants and herbs. However certain people in the neighborhood just can't make their trash fall into the proper receptacle.

It must be tough - getting your trash and cigarette butts off everyone's public property and into one of the million public trash cans we have on every street corner of this entire borough. Do they assume that their mother or the sanitation department is going to come running after them to clean up the slovenly mess they leave everywhere? If that's the way they leave the street, their houses must look like a homeless shelters.

Kids unwrap their sugary bodega treats every day and drop the wrappers at their feet. If some neighborhood old timer happens by and tells them to clean it up, the altercation ends up looking like this: 

It seems odd than in a place like Brooklyn, where people have a tendency to be so proud of the borough and their own neighborhood, that some actually don't care what that place looks like. So Prospect Heights, "are you gonna clean that up?"

Comptroller: Are the Candidates Actually Trolls?

As my blog title might explain, I'm from the deep south. Now I live in the biggest, baddest city in the north and as active a voter as I was in the south, I've yet to vote in a local election here in New York City. This is largely because my political vocabulary has not adjusted to public offices with names like "comptroller". What is a comptroller? Does it have anything to do with trolls? Is your office under a bridge? In order to vote, must I answer a riddle? If elected, are you required to dye your hair hot pink, blue, or red and have a jewel for a belly button, and then phase out of popularity in the early 90's?

I've decided this is the year to vote in the election, but in order to do that, I must first figure out what a comptroller does. According to the official NYC comptroller web page, the comptroller is an independently elected official that "ensures the financial health of of New York City by advising the Mayor, the City Council, and the public of the City's financial condition. The Comptroller also makes recommendations on City programs and operations, fiscal policies, and financial transactions. In addition, the Comptroller manages assets of the five New York City Pension Funds, performs budgetary analysis, audits city agencies, registers proposed contracts, etc. His office employs a workforce of over 700 professional staff members."

That gendered description of the office brings us to the first and only female, Melinda Katz, currently in the race for New York City comptroller. Katz has spent four years as a corporate lawyer, five years as an assembly person, and eight years as the Council's chairperson of Land Use.

To find out more about another candidate, John Liu, click here.