The Brooklyn Eagle is More of a Chicken – Malliotakis Article Censored?!
Dear Brooklyn Eagle,
The Brooklyn Eagle has provided the news to Brooklyn residents for many years. Over the past two years, I have been reading regularly and I feel the political news we have been receiving is censored. When there’s good news, the Brooklyn Eagle writers print it; when it’s bad news, the story is left out. I’m glad I am not the only one who has noticed this (see the comments at the bottom of this article as well). I think we can handle the truth Brooklyn Eagle. When I pick up papers in other neighborhoods, their news is a lot more straightforward. If our leaders aren’t doing what they are paid to do, let us know so we can decide if we need someone else. You can write the truth politely. Yesterday the Brooklyn Eagle had an article about Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis. The article presented no new information and failed to give the full story about some of the assemblywoman’s work. Why is Bay Ridge being censored from the whole story?
1. The Brooklyn Eagle Reporter, Paula Katinas wrote that Nicole Malliotakis introduced the paper reduction bill. That’s true, Assemblywoman Malliotakis brought the bill up three times and each time she failed to get it to passed (more info). In November 2014, we, the public voted on the ballot for a proposal called the New York Electronics Bill Amendment. which reduced the paper in Albany. This article referring to it as Proposal 2 stated there was little opposition to it on the ballot, so I am not sure why Malliotakis had such a hard time pushing it through herself. I’m not sure why Paula Katinas didn’t mention that this was a public ballot referendum after Malliotakis was unsuccessful in working with her colleagues to get this passed. At times, politicians will be unsuccessful and Ms. Katinas can tell us that.
2. Katinas discussed Malliotakis’ role in restoring the B37 bus. A lot of other politicians were involved in working to get the bus restored. Yes, the story is about this Assemblywoman, but there was no reason not to mention that this was an effort by many pols particularly because Paula Katinas wrote many articles on the topic of the B37 – here, here, here and here. I’m not sure why Ms. Katinas discussed a bill from year ago. What bills did the Assemblywoman Malliotakis initiate and pass this year? I believe there was one that she and Senator Lanza passed for some Staten Island Residents, what’s that important enough to mention? Malliotakis’ record for initiating and passing bills isn’t strong, although she has been a co-sponsor on some bills that have been successful.
3. For two years, Malliotakis has told Brooklynites that she was working on lowering the Verrazano Bridge toll into Staten Island. Since February 2014, Staten Island residents have paid $5.50, while Brooklyn residents pay $16 to go on the same bridge. In March 2014, Katinas reported that Golden and Malliotakis were presenting a petition for Brooklyn residents to sign in order to get a lower toll rate on the Verrazano. People spread the word, filled out the petition and the politicians did not get the bill passed. In January, 2015, Katinas reported that Malliotakis and Golden were pushing the same online petition AGAIN. Didn’t the Brooklyn Eagle find it strange that they were pushing the same petition again? We did. At some point in today’s article, Paula Katinas could have mentioned the whole story – everyone knows the bill didn’t pass because we still pay the high toll.
4. The Brooklyn Eagle article stated that Malliotakis’ priority is public education, yet Nicole Malliotakis was a supporter of the Education Tax Credits bill that Marty Golden initiated. The bill allowed rich people to donate money to private schools in exchange for huge tax breaks – 90% (see here for more info). The organization called Invest In Ed had a website with no contact name or number, but they were active on social media and spent quite a bit on television commercials (Couldn’t that money have been used for private schools?)
The New York State Constitution provides the rules for taxation and education. We have this so money is dispersed equally and fairly. Unless the Constitution is changed, our politicians should be supporting it. Cathy Nolan, another Assemblywoman had to tow the line and not allow the vote on this bill. Nolan even presented another bill where the private schools could still benefit, but the rich donors tax breaks were minimal. Nicole Malliotakis didn’t speak out and support Nolan. The Education Tax Credit was finally modified and then put into the “Big Ugly” which the Assembly passed. Most Bay Ridge residents love the public schools because their children do well. Years ago, parents paid for Catholic schools because they were good schools and they were safe – schools in Bay Ridge are safe because the parents here are very active in the schools. *If you are a parent and you want a choice for education, you purchase that for you child. My parents paid for my three brothers and I and Lee’s mother, who was a widow paid for Catholic education for three children as well. Anyone who signs their child up for parochial school knows they have to pay for it. If they don’t want to pay, they are welcome to send their child to public school.
Paula Katinas asserted that Assemblywoman Malliotakis believed that having a MBA helped her as an assemblywoman. Even a person without a degree can figure out that if Golden’s education bill passed as it was originally written, New York would be out quite a bit of money. Malliotakis’ degree didn’t help her when Golden’s other famous bill came up for a vote. Golden’s bill gave tax breaks to developers for building that were already built. Nicole Malliotakis voted in favor of tax breaks for developers in Manhattan even though she represents Bay Ridge and Staten Island. Malliotakis never spoke about Golden’s bill on social media, even though she maintains an active twitter and facebook accounts. Katinas quoted Malliotakis as saying: “I spend a lot of my time pushing back at bad pieces of legislation.” I didn’t see Malliotakis push back at all, so she must have thought this was good legislation. Malliotakis remained silent about this and The Brooklyn Eagle did not run a story on this bill. Yet, the tax breaks cost NYC 65 million dollars. Paula Katinas states that Nicole Malliotakis in influenced by her immigrant roots. She may be in some areas, but in leadership, I disagree. Malliotakis’ mother lived in a time when people were forced to be silent under Castro. There is no reason for Nicole Malliotakis to have STAY SILENT when other politicians have made poor decisions for NYC.
In 2014, Nicole Malliotakis was on the Education Committee in the NY Assembly. She presented the Apple Plan and I read it right away. The plan was “too little – too late” and I let her know. Thankfully, Nicole’s colleagues in the Assembly didn’t vote for it. In 2015, Malliotakis was not on the Education Committee any longer.
Malliotakis stood up for Graduate School TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) as a way to contradict the Dream Act. I don’t know anyone who had their graduate school tuition paid for. Anyone who seeks a higher degree knows they have to pay for it and shouldn’t be relying on the government to pay for their degree. If you are applying for graduate school, then you have a bachelor’s degree and you can work. My parents didn’t pay for my graduate school tuition. I paid it myself and so can anyone else. Malliotakis’ wants you to sign her petition in favor of TAP. Do you see where this is going? By now hasn’t Nicole Malliotakis seen petitions don’t get the work done. There was the petition for the Verrazano toll and the petition to end Common Core (and here too) and neither changed anything.
If Paula Katinas wanted to retell Malliotakis’ political career to us this summer, why did she leave out how Malliotakis didn’t have support for Michael Grimm’s empty seat. The news was pretty brutal on this topic this Winter. Katinas wrote that Golden and Malliotakis were allies. When Michael Grimm’s job became open, Golden backed Donovan. Katinas wrote quite a bit about Assemblywoman Malliotakis’ parents and their immigrant roots (we all have that – either by first, second or third generation) so I don’t know why we need to keep hearing about her parents. Nicole Malliotakis is not an immigrant. I found it ironic that Katinas wrote about Malliotakis speaking out against America working with Communist Cuba, but Katinas failed to mention that Nicole Malliotakis had no trouble accepting a trip to China (also December 2014 – Katina’s article). Malliotakis thinks it is okay for US businesses to go to China, but not to Cuba?! The topic of NY politicians accepting trips outside of the country is a great topic for a political article. (Malliotakis July 2015 trip to Greece ). I can’t help but wonder if there work is delayed here in Brooklyn when they are out of the country (there was a sink hole in the beginning of August, weeks later Malliotakis wrote a letter – reported August 25th) . The problem of sinkholes is not new for Bay Ridge. (August 2012, November 2014). I don’t think a letter for a problem this large was helpful, in fact I am pretty sure it would be filed in the garbage can.
Brooklyn Eagle Editor, I am writing because we need writers who aren’t afraid to give us the truth. There’s no reason to write a political profile and leave out most of the story. If a politician is running yoga classes, talk about that. If they presented a bill and weren’t able to carry it through, state that. A newspaper isn’t a bulletin board where a politician can throw up a press release and no one questions it. The newspaper writer should be the first person questioning it. We don’t need to hear about a politician’s mother, father, sibling or spouse – we need to hear about the politician and what that elected official is doing for Bay Ridge. Raise your wings and spread the truth, Brooklyn Eagle.
Hugs,
marlene
Topics: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Nicole Malliotakis, Politics | 2 Comments »
August 26th, 2015 at 5:40 pm
Marlene I am glad to see other Bay Ridge residents asking “where’s the news?” If the reporter had lunch with the assembly woman, why wouldn’t she give us some of her first hand knowledge. Like you, I know more about her parents than I need to know.
August 27th, 2015 at 8:43 pm
Thank you for posting this. I didn’t realize Nicole wasn’t following through. Maybe she is just busy in Staten Island.