Traffic Jam
• It’s down to the wire — the deadline for the legislature to approve Bloomberg’s congestion-pricing plan is today — and the still-unbowed mayor is pulling out all stops: Yesterday, he campaigned for it in three churches, fer chrissakes. [NYT]
the morning line
Andrew Cuomo, Sheriff of Greenpoint
• The toxic oil puddle under Greenpoint (which is, we’ll remind you, larger than the Exxon Valdez spill) has spent years as one of New York’s most esoteric horror stories. Finally, in a big move by new AG Andrew Cuomo, the state is taking Exxon Mobil to court over it. Four other companies are also targeted for dragging their feet on the cleanup. Awesome. [NYT]
• That was fast: Starrett City, the nation’s largest subsidized-housing complex, changed hands, going for the price we mentioned — just not to the bidder we mentioned. Clipper Equity swooped right in, picking up the megaproperty for $1.3 billion. [NYDN]
• Social conservatives are piling on Rudy Giuliani in earnest, decrying his anti-gun, pro-abortion, pro-gay union stance in direct mailings and other “material.” One would think they’d let the train wreck play out by itself. [amNY]
• And brand-new State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has a great Day One case on his desk: One of the office’s employees was arrested for public masturbation. This is, mind you, one month to a day after a security guard at the same office got caught exposing himself to kids. Must be an exciting place to work. [NYP]
the morning line
DHS Now Officially Full of Shit• The federal formula used to allot New York its pitiful share of anti-terrorism funds has been officially discredited. A new GAO report says — in as many words — that Homeland Security officials lack methods to assess risk. Actuarial math aside, failure to classify the Empire State Building as a landmark was a bit of a giveaway. [NYDN]
• In related news, the Empire State Building is America’s favorite piece of architecture, according to the American Institute of Architects poll. The White House is number two. [WNBC]
• Meet Tom DiNapoli. As New York’s Chris Smith reported yesterday, state legislators reneged on a deal with Governor Spitzer and installed the assemblyman as the new state comptroller. On the upside, according to the Times, DiNapoli is apparently the nicest guy in Albany. [NYT]
• The plot thickens in the Long Island fake-cop case. The con man in question not only wore fake uniform and a prop badge; he owned a car complete with a siren, maintained the cop identity 24/7, and shook down criminals for a living. [NYP]
• And it’s official: The bankrupt Air America now belongs to real-estate mogul Stephen Green, brother of Mark. The price tag on the voice of the American Left? $4.25 million. We assume they threw in The Nation. [amNY]
it just happened
Honeymoon Over
Governor Eliot Spitzer just concluded an angry press conference in Albany — his public response to today’s rebellion by the State Legislature, which voted to make Long Island state assemblyman Tom DiNapoli the new state comptroller. Spitzer scored plenty of rhetorical points — calling DiNapoli’s selection “an insider’s game of self-dealing” that “confirms the public’s worst image of what this Legislature does when given discretion,” and ripping Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver for “a lack of integrity.” He also tried to contrast the palace intrigue of the comptroller choice with the “public vote” yesterday that sent Craig Johnson to Albany to fill a State Senate vacancy.