Erick Salgado Protests Bayonne Bridge Project

Via SI Advance: Westerleigh resident, and Democratic mayoral candidate Rev. Erick Salgado, and a dozen members of the North Shore community met at the Bayonne Bridge on Sunday morning, Feb. 3, to protest the proposed three-year Bayonne Bridge construction project. Salgado expressed his concerns about the impact of the project on the lives of local residents and businesses. 

Independence Party Teaser Ad: Carrion As 3rd Party Candidate May Spoil Ya'll

The pretty bizarre mayoral election season may become even more exciting with a possible third party Independence Party challenger. Former Bronx Borough President Alfoldo Carrion Jr., who's awaiting the decision of the Republican county chairmen, is touted as a likely Independence Party candidate, following full-page ad spotted in free metro daily Wednesday, the Daily News reports. 

The newspaper ad by the Independence party touted its role in electing Mayor Bloomberg and declaring that it was “now working with” Carrion “to become an independent candidate for mayor.” Sources inside the party and the Carrion campaign said the party will make the endorsement official within two weeks.

Poll Shows Thompson Lacking Minority Base Support

While conventional wisdom and political punditry would suggest that Bill Thompson is the favorite and destined to at least make it to the Democratic primary run-off, based on his appeal to black and minority voters, a poll analysis, shared with Chris Bragg for The Insider, indicates a drop so far in Mr. Thompson’s support among black and Latino voters compared to the same time in 2009. 

And a comparison between Thompson's current numbers and those of Fernando Ferrer at a similar point during his 2005 mayoral campaign shows Mr. Thompson a  50 points behind where Mr. Ferrer (who is Latino) was among Hispanics, and 13 points back among African-Americans.

Experts: Quinn's 40K Housing Units in Decade Plan 'A Drop in the Bucket'

Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s ambitious proposal to build 40,000 new units of middle-class housing over 10 years will likely have to be scaled back, one budget expert told Andrew Hawkins for The Insider. “All of these plans start out very ambitious and then they don’t reach the number of units that they aspire to,” said Carol Kellermann, president of the Citizens Budget Commission. 

Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, called Ms. Quinn’s housing plan “a drop in the bucket”. 

“There are 3.4 million housing units in the city,” she said. “Forty thousand units is basically nothing.” 

“She’s obviously running a housing-centered campaign,” Ms. Gelinas said, noting that the speaker’s rivals, such as Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, will likely unveil housing agendas of their own. “De Blasio will try to out-house her.”

Number Cruncher: Could A Minority Candidate Come Close Winning Democratic Primary?

Can a long shot candidate, who's not even looked at, emerge as a top tier candidate, or even enter the run-off? The possibility and the chance of anyone hoping for this outcome are very low, yet given the demographics of the NYC population, we might wake up one day rubbing our eyes out of surprise.

SI Powerbroker Drops Support of Lhota for Ignoring Phonecalls

An important lesson to political candidates: Don't ignore telephone calls and don't stop calling. It could boost or bust your campaign either way. Some times nudging for support can pay off.

In this case, either Carrion has Mazel (good luck), or Lhota really screwed up big time. Staten Island power broker Guy Molinari and GOP mayoral candidate Joe Lhota are no more buds, according to the Staten Island newspaper. Molinari has switched his support to the wannabe Republican Adolfo Carrion, paving the path for a majority among the city's county chairmen to grant him a Wilson Pekula to enter the GOP mayoral primary.

Design Experts: Mayoral Candidates' Logos 'Abysmal' - Not Connecting With Voters

Design experts are not too convinced by the majority of the 2013 mayoral candidates' logos. Both, the Democrats and Republicans, logos rely on clichéd symbols, tired fonts and a sloppy appeal to voters, according to a panel of design and branding experts consulted by DNAinfo.com. 

Catsimatidis Directs Job Creation at Dropouts: Simplify Education System

It is not only the government's fiscal policies that have failed in creating jobs and reducing the unemployment, or even the under-employment rate, among college graduates, it's the education system, argues mayoral candidates John Castsdimatidis. 

 Speaking to reporters inside the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesman in Manhattan, Catsimatidis announced an education initiative to prevent students from dropping out of school and help the economy at the same time, Azi Paybarah reports.

Catsimatidis: "New York is Gonna Have Catsman!”

John Catsimatidis might be another self-made billionaire who wants to be mayor of New York City, but he’s one of the most exciting Republican mayoral candidates and less politician style than Mike Bloomberg 12 years ago. 

Catsimatidis explained to Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast, his Twist Twitter Handle to his surname. “That’s why it’s John ‘Cats’ when I’m running for mayor,” he says. “You know Gotham had Batman? New York is gonna have Catsman!” 

Shots Fired! Mayoral Opponents React to Quinn's Middle Class SOTC Speech

Bill de Blasio (D)

“Strengthening and expanding the middle class requires more than lofty words and playing an assigned role in the annual kabuki theater that our city budget process has become,” Mr. de Blasio said, according to Politicker. “From paid sick leave to early childhood and after-school program expansion to small business advocacy, Speaker Quinn has partnered with Mayor Bloomberg in blocking programs that would make a real difference to the lives of working families. If the next four years at City Hall are simply a continuation of the last 12, we will have failed millions of forgotten New Yorkers who deserve a mayor who speaks for them.” 

Why do Bloomberg, Quinn & others think lower taxes 4 millionaires is more important than early ed 4 kids like Oscar? twitter.com/deBlasioNYC/st…

— Bill de Blasio (@deBlasioNYC) February 11, 2013

George McDonald (R)

Today Speaker Quinn failed to honor Mayor Koch's legacy of talking to NYers like adults.

— George McDonald (@McDonald4NYC) February 11, 2013

Her proposals are not to find ways to make New York more affordable by reducing costs, cutting taxes or creating efficiency.

— George McDonald (@McDonald4NYC) February 11, 2013