The New York Observer » David Yassky

Policy Spat at Facebook

Taxi Commissioner David Yassky and Assemblyman Micah Kellner mix it up, on Facebook.

Kellner chided the city's "Taxi of Tomorrow" for being "the delivery van of yesterday."

Yassky - a bookish, former law school professor with a dry sense of humor - wrote "And can we please Read More

Mom and Pop Go to City Hall

On Friday, Nov. 20, Councilman Robert Jackson was exasperated.

The Harlem Democrat had put in a call to the chair of the Council’s Small Business Committee, David Yassky, asking for a vote on the Small Business Survival Act, a bill of Mr. Jackson’s that would regulate commercial rents.

“I told David today on the phone, I said, Read More

Yassky’s Bargain: A Departing Councilman in Search of a Quo for His Quid

Though he has only a few weeks left in office, City Councilman David Yassky has lost none of his enthusiasm. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, he parked a blue minivan on Kent Street in Williamsburg and bounded out, wearing a black suit and a black tie with green flowers, and no coat, although it was Read More

After Losing, Gioia and Yassky Take Different Approaches to the WFP

What an elected official does immediately after losing a primary is frequently a valuable clue as to what they plan to do in the future.

Case in point: Eric Gioia hammered away at Bill de Blasio for his ties to the Working Families Party, and ran several television ads making the point. Read More

Skurnik: De Blasio Big Everywhere, Yassky Big in Manhattan, Black Voters Turn Out in New York

Jerry Skurnik crunches the numbers and emails some interesting bits of analysis.

Bill de Blasio beat Mark Green pretty much everywhere.

“Two closest were 59 AD (Canarsie), where Thomas Jefferson Club supported Green and he lost 1,465 - 1,224 & 26 AD (Eastern Queens), where he lost 2,189-2,141,” Skurnik writes.

Only a Read More

Liu Campaign Source: We Don’t Owe the W.F.P. That Much

It’s easy to lump Bill de Blasio and John Liu into the same category: they’re both progressive Democrats who won their primaries with support from the Working Families Party.

But some of Liu's advisers are now taking pains to say that their victory was not attributable to the W.F.P.'s help. (There is an obvious political Read More

Working Families Party Rampant

The Working Families Party cleaned up in the run-off last night, with its candidates Bill de Blasio and John Liu each winning handily.

The party only has 11,800 registered voters in New York, but it's been able to craft an oversized role thanks to an effective, if controversial, Get Out The Vote operation.

"[T]he Democratic Read More

Yassky Prepares for the ‘Next Chapter’

At 9 p.m. last night, just as the polls were closing and the city’s weary poll workers roused from their slumber to head back home, someone popped out of the BLVD club on Bowery and hung a David Yassky for Comptroller sign on the door.

BLVD was the sight of Yassky’s would-be victory party, but Read More

De Blasio and Liu Win, and the 2013 Mayoral Field Takes Shape

The primary and run-off are now history, and with that we can now start to talk about the mayor’s race—in 2013.

I know, I know, we’ve got one coming up in five weeks and Michael Bloomberg, for all his money and inevitability, has hardly been lighting the world on fire with his poll Read More

Bored Poll Workers Cheer Two of Four Candidates, at Least

This morning, City Room followed the four remaining candidates when they went to vote in today's underwhelming run-off.

Because there weren't really any voters ("Turnout Is a Trickle" says the headline), there's a lot about how the poll workers react to the candidates, so let's read the tea leaves.

Comptroller candidate John Liu walked into his Read More

Comptroller Candidates Spin: Lies, Term Limits, Tier 5

The comptroller debate between John Liu and David Yassky was more confrontational than in the past, with the main issues being who tells the truth and who flip-flopped on term limits.

Each said he was “sad” that his opponent wasn’t talking about the issues.

Speaking to reporters after the debate, Yassky said his decision to Read More

Liu Recalls Yassky’s Term-Limits Vote, and Also That Failed Congressional Run

Observer intern Kate McGee gets John Liu's response to David Yassky's ad, which the campaign is calling "negative" and "desperate."

“He pledged to fight the extension of Term Limits before voting to overturn a referendum that New Yorkers upheld twice,” said a spokesman for Liu, Juanita Scarlett.

“And, let's not forget that he moved Read More

Yassky Calls Liu a Liar

David Yassky is out with an ad pushing his argument that John Liu is dishonest. He raises three main points and cites Daily News articles for verification.

The issues raised are about Liu returning contributions, discovering fraud at the M.T.A. and claims to have worked in a sweatshop.

Liu addressed each claim at Read More

Run-Off Poll: Close

A new poll out today from Quinnipiac University says the two run-off elections for comptroller and public advocate are pretty close, if not in a dead heat. Which, coupled with an expected tiny turnout, means Get Out the Vote will be particularly important.

This year, that's a very good thing for the candidates Read More

Suzannah B. Troy Will Not Be Quiet(ed)

The YouTube account for one of Michael Bloomberg’s most prolific, and eccentric, critics has been suspended.

Suzannah B. Troy, a resident of the West Village who has made dozens of minute-long videos criticizing Bloomberg for extending term limits and promoting development projects throughout the city, thinks the fix is in.

“YouTube suspended my Read More