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	<title>The City Desk &#187; politics</title>
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	<link>http://thecitydesk.net</link>
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		<title>Friday Facts: Budget Woes, FDR, Himmler Bay</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/01/09/friday-facts-budget-woes-fdr-himmler-bay/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2009/01/09/friday-facts-budget-woes-fdr-himmler-bay/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Count Film-Ula]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friday facts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonathan Morris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mabel Tripp Gardens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[police]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=503</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[:: Estimated five-year city budget deficit awaiting Maribeth Cosgrove when she is sworn in as mayor on Monday: Over $650 million :: Portion of the city budget in ten years that will have to be paid for pension and benefits, according to current union contracts : 61% :: City union contracts up for renewal this year: Police, fire, administrative staff :: When asked during an informal poll, more than twenty percent of respondents believed that the most physically powerful American president was either Teddy Roosevelt or George Washington. Physically weakest American presidents selected by the majority of respondents included Martin van Buren, John Quincy Adams or George H.W. Bush (though, surprisingly, not Franklin Delano Roosevelt) :: The so-called “Gipsie Murals” were sand-blasted into obscurity on this day in 1960. :: Memorial services for Laura Bonnie Tripp will be held this Tuesday at the viewing promenade at Mabel Tripp Gardens, the public parks facility named after her great-grandmother. The 70-year-old was better known as a former Playboy pin-up girl and third wife of local late night horror show host Count Film-Ula. :: Until popular opinion forced the change in 1944, Mean Harbor had been originally known as ‘Himmler Bay.’ (It was [...]]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>New Mayor to Toss Quarters</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/12/01/new-mayor-to-toss-quarters/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/12/01/new-mayor-to-toss-quarters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:17:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Belgian Quarter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brewery Quarter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Andrews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neighborhoods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ordinances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=454</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of outgoing Mayor Joseph Wilders’ best-received programs was his initiative to remove outdated ordinances from the city’s legal code (first item). However, the gratitude of the populace at no longer being required to maintain the lower edge of their moustaches above the upper lip (1871) eventually proved to have a negligible effect on his re-election prospects. Nonetheless, taking her cue from the popularity of her predecessors program, Mayor-elect Maribeth Cosgrove has announced her own initiative designed to streamline and economize the way the city does business. To demonstrate her intention to cut costs, budgets, bureaucracy, taxes and red-tape, Mayor-elect Cosgrove has announced that her administration will no longer award special recognition – and the more liberal interpretation of parking, construction and zoning regulations that thus applies – to city neighborhoods officially designated as &#8220;quarters.&#8221; In addition, the roster of  recognized city &#8220;quarters&#8221; will be rolled back to the level established in 1982, when the Hospitality Quarter became the fifth such city neighborhood to be so recognized. “I believe that five quarters are sufficient for any municipality” reads the critical line in the Mayor-elect’s press release dated November 24, 2008. Other city &#8220;Quarters&#8221; to be grandfathered in under the new [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Mayoral Race &#8211; Some Numbers</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/11/05/mayoral-race-some-numbers/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/11/05/mayoral-race-some-numbers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:57:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Election 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=408</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, that was certainly something, wasn&#8217;t it? With 99% of precincts reporting this morning, here&#8217;s how it all shook out: 61.1% (419,339) &#8211; City Councilwoman Maribeth Cosgrove (R) 36.6% (250,805) &#8211; Mayor Joseph Wilders (D) 1.5% (10,211) &#8211; Lewis Armstrong (Lib) .4% (3,025)- Leonard Pierce (Ind) .38% (2,610) &#8211; Louis M. Armstrong (Green) The polling had Cosgrove only a few points ahead of Wilders, so this landslide was a bit surprising. She is the city&#8217;s second female and its fourth African-American mayor. Mayor-elect Cosgrove&#8217;s victory speech was very polite, forward-looking, etc., which is to say- kind of nice, but boring. Mayor Wilders&#8217; concession speech, however- well, we&#8217;ll have a transcript up shortly. As for the ballot measures- all, with the exception of the measure that would make &#8220;defrauding a restaurant a misdemeanor offense,&#8221; passed by at least a 2-to-1 margin. The city and its suburbs also swung for Obama by about 68%, overall. - RJ White]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What You&#8217;re Voting For Tomorrow, Locally</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/11/03/what-youre-voting-for-tomorrow-locally/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/11/03/what-youre-voting-for-tomorrow-locally/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:26:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Election 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laws]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ordinances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=401</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[That&#8217;s right, tomorrow&#8217;s election day and, in addition to the presidential race, there are also many local races and issues to be decided, in what is expected to be a day of record turnout. A few items which will appear on (most of) your local ballots follow: Mayoral Largely between incumbent Mayor Joseph Wilders (D) and longtime City Councilwoman Maribeth Cosgrove (R). Also running are Lewis Armstrong (Lib), Louis M. Armstrong (Green) and Leonard Pierce (Ind). City Council Races will be decided in Districts 1, 2, 5, 8 and 10, as well as in three of the seven at-large seats. Municipal Court Two of these slots are up for grabs. Choose at random or along party lines, as you always do. Comptroller Only one, of course. See &#8220;Municipal Court.&#8221; Board of Education Again, unless you know someone, close your eyes and point the little sharp sticky thing at two people. Ordinances :: A resolution to turn management/maintenance of 40% of the City&#8217;s parks over to a private company. :: Approval of a $25.9 million bond toward &#8220;general infrastructure improvements.&#8221; :: Measure that would make defrauding a restaurant a misdemeanor offense. :: The allowing of liquor licenses in the currently dry [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>BREAKING: Embattled councilwoman arrested on bribery charges</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/10/28/breaking-embattled-councilwoman-arrested-on-bribery-charges/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/10/28/breaking-embattled-councilwoman-arrested-on-bribery-charges/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:14:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Courthouse District]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kevin Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[**BREAKING NEWS&#8230;. MUST CREDIT THE CITY DESK (HTTP://THECITYDESK.NET)*** An 18-month investigation came to a head when City Councilwoman Elaine Brudnoy was arrested this morning for accepting eight bribes worth $9,250. Brudnoy, who has been on the city council for 19 years, allegedly accepted cash payoffs that ranged from $50 to $1200 during the investigation period. The largest was to help secure a piece of city-owned land for a megastore operated by the Adult Wonderland chain of booksellers. One series of photographs held up by chief investigator Louis McGregor at a press conference this morning showed Brudnoy allegedly stuffing a $400 payment into her bra during a meeting with an informant at The Judge&#8217;s Chambers, a bar located directly across from the Federal Courthouse. According to the 93-page affadavit, Brudnoy also brought her grandson to one meeting held in the parking lot of a Valu-Lvrs Discount Supermarket, where she received $125 to expedite the liquor license of a Snoco-Loco shaved ice stand. Brudnoy has represented the Roxboro neighborhood she grew up in since taking a seat on the council in 1989, but lost in the Democratic primary to Elvira Chong-Suarez. This arrest may mean the loss of her license to practice [...]]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Briefs: Laziness/Self-Plagiarism, Newspaper Endorsements</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/10/27/briefs-lazinessself-plagiarism-newspaper-endorsements/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/10/27/briefs-lazinessself-plagiarism-newspaper-endorsements/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:32:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[halloween]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mayoral race]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[newspapers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ray Ingraham]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=379</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Did Sunday’s editorial cartoon by Journal-Clarion artist Jeff Norwood look familiar? Longtime readers may have noticed that it was identical to the cartoons printed in the paper on the week of Halloween in 2004 and 2000. The cartoon features a trick-or-treater wearing a scary-looking hockey mask, standing on a porch holding a flashlight under his chin. He is attempting to frighten a nonplussed homeowner labeled with the word “VOTERS” on his backside. In the 3 times the cartoon has been used, only the name on the hockey mask and the word balloon over the trick-or-treater has been changed. 2008: Name on mask is “McCain.” Word balloon: “WooOOOoo…William Ayers…ACORN…Rev. Wright…Tax Increases on Small Businesses, my friends!” 2004: Name on mask is “W.” Word balloon: “WooOOOoo…Flip-flopper…Gay Marriages…Weak on Homeland Security!” 2000: Name on mask is “Bush II.” Word balloon: “WooOOOoo…Stem-cell research&#8230;A third term for Bill Clinton…Didn’t really invent the internet!” The City Desk contacted Norwood for a comment on his work. We asked if readers would be justified in assuming that he had cut some corners out of laziness, or was guilty of perpetuating a hackneyed cliché. “That assumption would be undermining the irony of my artistic vision,” said Norwood in a [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Friday Facts: Hope, Change and/or Straight Talk</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/09/26/friday-facts-hope-change-andor-straight-talk/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/09/26/friday-facts-hope-change-andor-straight-talk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:42:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friday facts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonathan Morris]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mayoral race]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=331</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[:: The voter registration deadline for the November 4 election is October 6. Once again, your mayoral candidates- - Democratic: Joseph Wilders, current mayor - Republican: Maribeth Cosgrove, longtime City Councilwoman - Libertarian: Lewis Armstrong, local businessman - Green: Louis M. Armstrong, Watson University humanities professor - Independent: Leonard Pierce, former Fifth Ward Democratic party leader (Mr. Pierce is also a sometime contributor to The City Desk) :: Mayor Wilders currently has a three point lead in the polls over Councilwoman Cosgrove. :: Of more than five hundred city residents asked in an informal poll, only three percent indicated that they would be willing to vote for a transvestite presidential candidate. :: Number of local businesses with &#8220;Hope&#8221; in their name: 7 (Including &#8220;Hope&#8217;s Erotic Bakery,&#8221; &#8220;Never Give Up (Hope)&#8221; resale and thrift store benfiting St.Katherine&#8217;s Childrens Hospital, and &#8220;Hope Floats&#8221; movie-themed ice cream parlor) :: Number of local businesses with &#8220;Change&#8221; in their name: 43 (mostly car service stations ending with &#8220;-Change,&#8221; but also including &#8220;Loose Change&#8221; used clothing store and &#8220;Change-a-lot&#8221; diaper laundry service) :: Number of local businesses with &#8220;Straight Talk&#8221; in their name: 0 (Although Community Radio 790 AM has a 15-minute niche news broadcast three [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The City&#8217;s Runaway Neighborhood Threatens Again</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/07/14/the-citys-runaway-neighborhood-threatens-again/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/07/14/the-citys-runaway-neighborhood-threatens-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:40:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[annexation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ordinances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Heights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shek Baker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/?p=268</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President George W. Bush&#8217;s scheduled departure from office next year has many of our citizens preparing for a street fight of sorts. On February 1st, the upscale President Heights neighborhood is scheduled to add a second Bush St. to its ever-growing borders, and seven city organizations, including the Falmouth Hill Preservation Association, the Norbeck St. Residents&#8217; Group, and Community Board 6 are urging the city to halt the proceedings. To succeed they will have to convince the city council to repeal a 139-year-old amendment to the city&#8217;s charter that ranks as one of the most short-sighted and destructive bits of legislation in city history. If the council refuses, as seems likely, a 12-block section of Norbeck St. in historic Falmouth Hill would be re-christened after our 43rd president. Several landmarks on that stretch &#8211; including one of the city&#8217;s oldest churches and the Teal Estate, the original mayoral mansion &#8211; could be torn down or renamed at the whim of the President Heights Community Association, notorious for its draconian covenants that regulate the height, appearance, name and function of buildings within its ever-expanding borders. The reason our city is almost powerless to stop this possible desecration of its own landmarks [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Mayor Montgomery, Our Own Eliot Spitzer</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/03/17/mayor-montgomery-our-own-eliot-spitzer/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/03/17/mayor-montgomery-our-own-eliot-spitzer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:02:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[City Hall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scandal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/2008/03/17/mayor-montgomery-our-own-elliot-spitzer/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The unfortunate situation with New York&#8217;s Governor Eliot Spitzer has reminded some of a similar controversy which rocked our city in the early 80s. Popular Republican state Representative Karl Montgomery was elected to the mayor&#8217;s office in 1980 and had a relatively low-key, yet effective, first year in office. Then, in February of 1982, he suddenly resigned for no apparent reason, at what has come to be known in local political and journalistic circles as The Lunch. On February 2, Montgomery was scheduled to give a speech at the annual membership luncheon for the Pinion Club, an organization for city business leaders. This had been a yearly tradition for the twenty-seven years of the club&#8217;s existence and pretty much ran to the same routine every single time- mayor comes up, talks about the importance of business and commerce, tells a few good-natured jokes, maybe mentions some new policy initiative, serve dessert, end of luncheon. On this day, however, Montgomery took the podium, gripped it nervously and began his planned speech. After the first few sentences, he started railing about the &#8220;jackals of the press amongst us,&#8221; &#8220;certain moral lapses&#8221; and, almost tearfully, said that he hoped it would not come [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Ex-Candidate Ron Paul Dis-invited</title>
		<link>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/02/17/ex-candidate-ron-paul-dis-invited/</link>
		<comments>http://thecitydesk.net/2008/02/17/ex-candidate-ron-paul-dis-invited/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:13:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>The City Desk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Election 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mayoral race]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RJ White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ron paul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Watson University]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thecitydesk.net/2008/02/17/ex-candidate-ron-paul-dis-invited/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Former presidential candidate Ron Paul was scheduled to give a speech this Wednesday at Watson University for several student political science classes, but the event has been canceled. Watson Students for Poli-Sci (WSPS) had booked the Congressman (R-TX) to come and speak back when he was still in the race, but hoped that his exit from the campaign could still serve as fodder for an instructive talk. The problem came last week when the group began to circulate a last round of press materials promoting the campus event. In the press release, WSPS publicity committee head Ian Sandborn (class of &#8217;09), made a reference to &#8220;Rep. Ron Paul&#8217;s failed presidential bid.&#8221; Once the release began to be circulated, that sentence was all it took for scores of Ron Paul supporters to begin a deluge of phone calls and emails to the Watson University Student Affairs office, Student Activity Board, Administration Office and to Sandborn&#8217;s apartment. Threats of protests, threats of contacting university donors and even threats of death resulted. At one point, even confused administrators over at the Community College were contacted about the release. After consideration by administrators and the WSPS, Rep. Paul&#8217;s invitation was rescinded, citing safety concerns [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>57</slash:comments>
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