CAR TALK airs on PBS TV – July 9th at 8pm

Lou Gordon, Ray & Tom Magliozzi

BALCONY member Robert Harris is Co-Executive Producer of the upcoming PBS cartoon series
Click & Clack’s: As the Wrench Turns
based upon the NPR radio show Car Talk.

BALCONY Coordinator Lou Gordon joins Tom and Ray Magliozzi
in New York City announcing that the show will premier on
July 9th on PBS television stations across the USA at 8:00 p.m.

Read the release: Click and Clack

DiNapoli Announces $500 Million Commitment to “Green” Investments

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the launch of his Green Strategic Investment Program which will increase commitments to environmentally focused investment strategies by $500 million over the next three years across the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s entire portfolio. DiNapoli made the announcement during an Environmental Advisory Webcast he hosted in partnership with Pace Law School.

Read the entire release here: GSIP

Statements from Henry Amoroso and Bill Rudin on St. Vincent’s/Rudin Application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission

(MANHATTAN) Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers and The Rudin Family today presented to the Landmark Preservation Commission their plans to build a 21st Century, green hospital and residential housing in Greenwich Village. Below are statements from Saint Vincent’s President and CEO Henry Amoroso and Bill Rudin.

“Today, I’m proud to say we have taken the first official step in bringing a state-of-the-art healthcare facility that will provide the best in quality care to the million-plus people who live in, work in or visit the West Side of Manhattan each and every day,” said Henry Amoroso, President and CEO of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers. “Prior to the submission of our application to the Landmarks Commission, we have worked tirelessly to address two significant policy concerns — the need for 21st-century healthcare and our desire to build a facility that blends into the fabric of Greenwich Village, our home for more than 150 years. We firmly believe that this project, designed by two of the world’s best architectural firms, meets both of these needs.”

“On behalf of the entire Rudin family, I can say that we firmly believe this partnership with St. Vincent’s has yielded a project that stays true to the historic nature of Greenwich Village while offering an unparalleled community benefit – that of quality healthcare for a huge number of New Yorkers,” said Bill Rudin, President of Rudin Management. “In our planning, we have been particularly mindful of the Village’s original streetscape and feel our project – which returns to the Village’s earlier roots of townhouses in the middle of the block allowing light and air to flood West 11th and 12th Street – is indicative of our commitment to preservation of this iconic neighborhood.”

$8 Traffic Fee for Manhattan Gets Nowhere

By Nicholas Confessore

ALBANY — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s far-reaching plan to ease traffic in Manhattan died here on Monday in a closed conference room on the third floor of the Capitol.

Democratic members of the State Assembly held one final meeting to debate the merits of Mr. Bloomberg’s plan and found overwhelming and persistent opposition. The plan would have charged drivers $8 to enter a congestion zone in Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours.

Mr. Bloomberg and his supporters, including civic, labor and environmental organizations, viewed the proposal as a bold and essential step to help manage the city’s inexorable growth.

In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care

By Kevin Sack

AMHERST, Mass. — Once they discover that she is Dr. Kate, the supplicants line up to approach at dinner parties and ballet recitals. Surely, they suggest to Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a family physician here, she might find a way to move them up her lengthy waiting list for new patients.
Those fortunate enough to make it soon learn they face another long wait: Dr. Atkinson’s next opening for a physical is not until early May — of 2009.

Comptroller DiNapoli Speaks at BALCONY Breakfast

Originally posted March 3, 2008

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli spoke at the BALCONY Breakfast for Lobbyists in Albany (February 26, 2008). His remarks focused on how BALCONY can help find common ground on key public policy issues in New York, such as infrastructure investment, health care and state budget. At the same time, Comptroller DiNapoli outlined the difficulties New York State will have as it seeks to balance its $124 billion 2008-2009 budget.

“We’re facing very uncertain economic times,” DiNapoli said. “If things continue to decline in the financial industry, New York will get hit even harder. The governor made some difficult choices, but there will have to be more. We should only spend within the parameters of what the state can afford. When you spend more than you take in, something has got to give.”

BALCONY Co-Chairs Bruce Ventimiglia (l) and Alan Lubin (r) Welcome NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to the February 26th BALCONY Breakfast for Albany Lobbyists.

A Schools Veteran Girds for a Broader Battlefield

By Jennifer Medina

Randi Weingarten has spent more than a decade cultivating a reputation as the archetypal union leader: a combative dealmaker and consummate political street fighter for city teachers. Yet at a recent education conference in Nashville, there was a fellow from the conservative Hoover Institute, Eric A. Hanushek, gushing with praise for Ms. Weingarten, and promising to do all he could to support her bid to become the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the national union.

Just one thing, he added with a laugh: “I don’t know if that’s good for your image.”

Later this month, Ms. Weingarten is expected to announce her candidacy to run the national teachers’ union, with her election widely considered virtually assured. The position would put her in place to be one of the most important people in shaping the national debate on education policy in the next few years.

High Drug and Insurance Cost are key concerns of NY Business and Labor

BALCONY reports that the key areas of health care concern by New York business and labor organizations include the rising cost of Drugs, Hospital Care Insurance, and the cost care for 2.6 million uninsured New Yorkers. Those concerns were announced at a special forum on Affordable Health Care in White Plains coordinated by the American Cancer Society, featuring local Westchester and Putnam legislators, the Westchester/Putnam AFL CIO Central Labor Council.

At the same time, BALCONY reported that businesses and labor agree that several steps need to be taken to provide health insurance to New Yorkers including the introduction of Wellness programs, the implementation of electronic medical records, a uniform system of medical claims forms and adjudication and finally a pooled bulk drug purchase program that would reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

The findings were the result of a special of New York state meetings hosted by BALCONY and the American Cancer Society in Buffalo, Albany and New York City. The round table discussions were conducted on behalf of the New York State Department of Health and Department of Insurance, meeting separately with businesses and labor unions.

Elisabeth Benjamin, counsel to the Community Service Society and a key player in the statewide coalition advocating the affordable health care for all New Yorkers delivered a comprehensive presentation on the current plans for Health Insurance Reform in New York and across the nation. Click here for the Benjamin PowerPoint presentation.

City Council OKs traffic congestion plan

BY Adam Lisberg

DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Mayor Bloomberg’s historic plan to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 60th St. won the endorsement of the City Council Monday night – putting Albany under the gun to make it law.

After hours of impassioned debate over whether the measure would ease traffic, help the environment, raise mass transit dollars or just penalize those who have no option but to drive to work, the City Council voted 30-20 in favor of the nation’s first congestion pricing plan.

State budget likely to be completed by week’s end

Camp Pharsalia to remain open
By Jay Gallagher
and Joseph Spector
Albany Bureau
PRESSCONNECTS.com

After passing on-time budgets in two of the last three years, the state Legislature was resigned Monday to missing the April 1 deadline this year — probably not wrapping up until late this week.

Passing a budget on time is a hallmark issue for state lawmakers after the Legislature went 20 straight years without meeting the deadline. They had an on-time budget in 2004 and 2005, and missed the deadline by a day last year.