NYC Mayoral Cadidates on YouTube

New York Mayor Series: Part Two

(In alphabetical order)

Mike Bloomberg:


Tyrrell Eiland:


Daniel Fein:


Jimmy McMillan:


Billy Talen:


Bill Thompson:


Frances Villar:

The Power of the New York City Mayor

New York Mayor Series: Part One

The immense powers held by the Mayor of New York today would make Robert Moses blush.

Some examples of Michael R. Bloomberg’s eight-year impact on New York City are the smoking and trans-fat ban, increasing property taxes, and opening up Times Square to pedestrians. In any other large city in the world, such a list of accomplishments would be unheard of.

Based on the New York City Charter and several articles I have read, I have identified - what I believe - to be the three most important powers of the Mayor:

1. The appointment and removal of heads of departments

Arguably the most important job of the mayor is to name the deputy mayors and officers of the 10 departments. These officers, who are not democratically elected, have the immense power to shape and control life in New York City.

The mayor also has the power to remove any officer as he sees fit. As stated in the charter, the mayor may “remove from office any public officer holding office by appointment from a mayor of the city.”

In the mayor’s role as magistrate, he essentially controls the finances of New York City through the deputy mayor for economic development. Except for a stipulation where he must work with the comptroller to determine obligation terms, he can exercise powers of the finance board without regard to provision of law.

2. The ability to create or abolish bureaus, divisions, or positions within the executive office.

The charter does not define bureau and department roles, so it is up to the mayor to decide what they do. If he so wishes, entire departments can be removed and new ones created.

In addition to being able to use executive power to remove positions, he can also require that information obtained by city employees be kept confidential.

Both being able to create departments and hide information from the public could be seen as undemocratic, but also as a source of strength for the mayor. Following most definitions of democracy, the powers of the mayor here enter some questionable territory.

3. Power to coordinate the criminal justice system

The mayor is in charge of appointing the coordinator of criminal justice, another position that greatly affects New Yorkers. The coordinator advises and assists the mayor in planning operation in criminal justice activities. This position is also limited in its description, stating, “[the coordinator will] perform such other duties as the mayor may assign.”

In Bloomberg’s eight years, he has overseen NYPD spying on protests and social and political gatherings. He also continued his predecessor’s crackdown on so-called quality-of-life crimes. Both of these activities disproportionately target the poor.

Decisions that will affect 8 million people are largely in the hands of one man, the mayor, making it one of the most powerful positions on Earth.

100th Post: Beyond the Printing Press

When I started this blog in 2007, I was closing one chapter in my life and moving to San Francisco. A lot of stuff has happened since then, but one thing has been constant: I'm chasing my dream of becoming a journalist.

I'm not sure who is reading, if anybody, but according to Google analytics, I'm getting around 5 hits a day. To my friends and the occasional web surfer, thank you.

For End of the Dial I wrote the piece below about adapting to new technologies in order to succeed in journalism. I hope you'll be here for the next 100 posts!

Beyond the Printing Press

I truly love journalism. But, like most of us in the industry, I'm worried about the possibility of getting, and maintaining, a job. So, I've decided to get proactive.

I'm spending last semester at NYU picking up some new skills that might make me a bit more marketable to editors. I am studying how to make radio and video pieces with some of the best multimedia journalists this industry has to offer. It hasn't been easy.

See, when you're in the NYU print program, Reporting New York, you grab your notebook, a pen, maybe a camera, and run straight into whatever story you are covering. Sure, things go wrong all the time, but it is nothing compared to the equipment troubles I've been having recently.

Last weekend, I took an Edirol recorder and a shotgun microphone to the National Equality March. I interviewed people on the bus ride there, at the march, and recorded speeches at the foot of the capital. Then, I listened to my tape.

It turns out on that every bump I hit on the bus created a weird wobbly sound in my interviews. I monitored my recordings with headphones the whole time but I must have missed it. I hope that I can still create a piece out of it, but the possibility that a whole trip to the capital was wasted keeps me up at night.

Unlike my radio work, I've been successful at video. My first piece, "The New York Comic Shop," (shot on a Canon FS100) was praised by my professors and peers. I spent hours and hours filming and putting it together to create something I am proud of. But, when I started filming for my second project, all hell broke loose.

My ambition got the better of me and I decided to take a high-tech HD camera I was unfamiliar with to the Big Apple Comic Con. Everything imaginable went wrong: My headphones weren't working, I accidentally filmed in high quality so I instantly filled up all three of my memory cards, I couldn't figure out how to shut off the flash, and - to this day - have not figured out how to get the videos on my computer.

Sure, video problems might haunt me, but it is radio that will be the real challenge. Right now, I am spending, what seems like, my fortieth hour of work on a 90 second radio piece about Disney buying Marvel Comics.

I might be cursing Nikola Tesla for inventing radio, and Dean Olsher for being a perfectionist, but I’m determined to create a radio story so good that End of the Dial becomes the hottest source for radio on the web.

So, put some faith in me and stay tuned.

National Equality March Wrap-Up

Early this morning I arrived back in New York City from my trip to Washington D.C. I was there covering the National Equality March for EndOfTheDial.com and it was a thrill to be a part of.

In my last post, I excitedly reported that there was up to 500,000 people there. According to Time magazine, there were around 200,000. So, even though I'm still not completely sure, sorry for any inflation on my part.

I had a hard time find an official number. I suppose I can't fault any media sources because of how hard it is to look at a large crowd and actually figure that out. Also, there has been a lot of heat on media outlets about the amount of people at Glenn Beck's 9/12 rally. Beck claims there were up to 2 million - the local fire and police departments said 30,000-70,000.

Live from the National Equality March

I'm writing to you live from the National Equality March in Washington D.C.

As my fellow journalist, Ryan McClendon, and I sit in a coffee chop, we are still trying to come to grips with the events here in the capital.

My rough estimate is that there are around 250,000 - 500,000 people here protesting for LGBT equality. The excitement and the enthusiasm here is insane. People are chanting, carrying signs, and flooding the streets of D.C.

I've uploaded a bunch of my pictures to Flickr (see below).



Ryan and I got into the press area and were only a few feet away from all the speakers, including Lady Gaga. We were sitting there directly in front of the Capitol Building - loving every minute of it.

The New York Comic Shop

After hours and hours of footage, I have created my first short film. I'm lucky enough to be taking a class at NYU with two of the top multimedia journalists, Matt Rivera and Adam Penenberg, and this is what I've come up with. I have two more videos to go, so I hope I continue to get better. Thanks for your support and please check out the website I set up for their class: The Comic Book Times.

Photography

I'm not sure what makes great photography. Sometimes, I think it is being at the right place at the right time. Other times, I think it is just taking a fantastic photo - regardless of the subject.

As a journalist, I take my camera with me every time I cover a story. Of the hundreds of photos I have taken, only one ever got published. Still, I think I have produced some good stuff over the years.

I have posted above, what I believe, to be my best photos.

John Titor

Sort of a follow up to my Best YouTube Conspiracy Videos post, I recently came across a video about John Titor, a time traveler. The stories of Titor on the internet are cool, but a lot of his predictions never came true (like the Olympics ending in 2004).

It seems like a lot of Titor's advice to people had a right-wing agenda. You can view all of his predictions here.

According to his fans, Titor came from a different dimension, so that is why several of his prophecies never came true.

My favorite thing about the theory is that there is actually a real Florida family with a young boy named "John Titor" who has hired a lawyer. Pretty funny stuff. I couldn't find any other talk of the young John Titor, besides the one radio program fueling much of the story: Coast to Coast AM.

I was reading an issue of Marvel Comics' Cable (a time-traveling mutant) and thought to myself, "I wonder if there are any time travel theories on YouTube?" It's amazing what you can find on that site.