The New York Observer » Daniel Squadron

God Willing, Brooklyn Bridge Park Will Have Less Condos

If they can reach a compromise on Capital Hill, why not on the Brooklyn waterfront? Read More

Democratic State Senator Opposes Legislation from Anonymous State Senator

Around the 6:30 mark, Democratic State Senator Daniel Squadron questions why a series of local bills--ones that extend taxes in areas mostly represented by Republicans--are being sponsored by the Rules Committee, rather than an actual legislator.

"Common practice is that if a senator has a tax-extender in their region, they sponsor the bill," said Read More

Schumer Disciples Crowd His Sunday Style

If it's Sunday, it's Chuck Schumer meeting the press.

And yesterday was no exception, as Schumer summoned reporters to an 11 a.m. event in his East Midtown office to announce one of his achievable, inarguable policy goals--calling on the Federal Aviation Administration not to dilute its standards for measuring pilot fatigue.

But if the original idea for Read More

No New Taxes for Brooklyn Bridge Park (But What About a Parking Lot?)

Oh, those entitled Brooklyn Heightsies. They decry the thought of condos lining Brooklyn Bridge Park -- thus supporting the new greensward's ongoing maintenance -- because it would block their harbor views. Yet they also do not want to pay new taxes to help fund the park, even though the proposal helped State Senator Read More

DiNapoli: Wilson Has “No Experience…In Delivering What Government Needs To Do” [VIDEO]

Democratic heavyweights came out for Tom DiNapoli this afternoon as he took his re-election campaign for state comptroller to Chinatown.

Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, New York City comptroller John Liu, state senator Daniel Squadron, assembly member Grace Meng, council member Margaret Chin were among supporters at a press conference at the Chinese Consolidated Business Association.

"We've Read More

De Blasio No Fan of Mayor’s New Homelessness Approach — UPDATED

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio thinks the city's latest solution to homelessness might only make things worse.

The New York Times today painted a pretty grim picture of the city’s struggles with rent subsidies and vouchers, and the public advocate's office told The Observer says the city's newest approach may be counterproductive.

This Read More

The New Be Good Business: Albany Gives Birth to New York’s Benefit Corporation

Wednesday, June 16, was a typical day in Albany. After arguing about ancient gladiators, senators approved a bill legalizing mixed martial arts in New York; the comptroller promoted a Web video scolding lawmakers for wasting time on the delayed state budget; and gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino asked supporters to vote on names-Give Me Liberty, Joe Read More

More Lower Manhattan Subsidies Extended

The state Legislature has voted to extend a set of subsidies for Lower Manhattan, adding four years to a set of incentives installed in 2005 as part of a downtown recovery package.

The extension comes at an estimated cost of about $12 million a year to the city in foregone taxes, according to a spokesman Read More

Housing-in-the-Park Debate Reopens as Brooklyn Bridge Park Opens

For the past half-decade, the plan to build Brooklyn Bridge Park has been a hornet's nest. A finance plan largely based on developing housing within the new waterfront park, set up by the Pataki and Bloomberg administrations, incensed a vocal set of Brooklyn Heights neighbors, who have been unrelenting in their criticism more than three Read More

Squadron Eyes City Takeover of Brooklyn Bridge Park, with Conditions

For at least two years, the Bloomberg administration has been pushing--first privately, then publicly--to take over the governance of Brooklyn Bridge Park, offering to put more money into the new East River parkland in exchange for more control from the state.

Now, the move has earned the tentative support of the local state senator, Daniel Squadron, Read More

Silver and Others Seek Millions for NYCHA

Public housing advocates and elected officials rallied on the City Hall steps for more than a half hour this morning, demanding the city and state give more money to the New York City Housing Authority.

The group – which was led by Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh and State Senator Daniel Squadon and included Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Read More

Senate Narrowing Thursday’s Agenda

ALBANY—Democrats controlling the State Senate have pared down their agenda for tomorrow's session.

Four bills were removed from the rules calendar, according to spokesman Austin Shafran, after Republicans "expressed to us that they would not be supporting them" and Democrats, without Senator Brian Foley, won't have the 32 votes needed to pass them. Read More

Finally, Mayoral Control Passes the Senate

ALBANY—There were no major surprises, nothing was defeated, and the tweaked version of mayoral school control voted through the State Senate after two hours.

The main Assembly bill passed by a vote of 47 to 8; all four chapter amendments were approved by varying margins, with 15 senators opposing the creation of Read More

Squadron’s Smack

ALBANY—State Senator Shirley Huntley is making a floor speech against a bill re-authorizing mayoral control of schools, and just laid quite the smack on fellow Democrat Daniel Squadron, who is a co-sponsor of the bill and had spoken moments earlier.

"He seems to know a lot about schools and children, and it's amazing when Read More

SLA Chief Approved, Uncontentiously, by a Senate Panel

ALBANY—A unanimous, bipartisan vote? In the State Senate?

The Committee on Investigations and Government Operations advanced the nomination of Dennis Rosen to lead the State Liquor Authority to the Finance Committee. The bipartisan panel was united in concerns that the process for obtaining liquor licenses is often too slow, and the enforcement process Read More