Ruben Diaz Jr.

 

City Councilman Tom White said today he didn’t think the Sean Bell case is “black against white,” citing the racial diversity of two of the officers on trial (two were black, one was white).

Some, like State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., think otherwise.

When asked, State Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith seemed to disagree with White, and quickly moved on to the next question.

Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. told me just now, "Once again it's a travesty of the judicial system where it seems like this verdict is going to have black and Latino communities feel like the system works for some but not for all."

"What do we do now? What do we do now? What now?" Diaz asked rhetorically.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg’s spokesman John Gallagher is releasing, upon request, a statement blasting the legislative process that killed his boss’ plans for congestion pricing.

“What we are witnessing today is one of the biggest cop-outs in New York’s history. After insisting on the formation of a commission to make recommendations for a bill, and then for the City Council to vote to endorse that bill, the Assembly needs to stand up and be counted.  They owe it to the majority of New Yorkers who support this plan, the scores of environmental groups, public health organizations, business leaders, unions, and the public at large, to put this proposal to a public vote.”

Mary Peters, the U.S. Transportation Secretary also released a statement thanking by name everyone but Sheldon Silver for their “leadership” on the issue.

“Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Bruno, the City Council and many other state and local officials and civic, environmental, business and labor organizations, New York has engaged in one of the most vigorous and significant debates about transportation policy in modern U.S. history. While today's announcement, if accurate, is deeply disappointing, New York’s mounting traffic and environmental woes point to congestion pricing as an inevitable solution, even if not in the next few months or with the assistance of federal Urban Partnership dollars. Starting tomorrow, we will engage with many of the largest cities in the United States that have put forward ambitious traffic fighting plans to discuss how they could use this money to cut traffic, improve transit and reduce pollution.”

More reactions after the jump.  read more »