Now, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has come up with a creative and potentially game-changing partnership between the public and private sectors. Mr. Cuomo recently announced the creation of tax-free zones for businesses that set up shop on the campuses of the vast State University of New York system. In addition, the zones would be extended to private university and college campuses north of Westchester County. Qualifying businesses would be exempt from sales tax, property tax and state income tax for the first 10 years of operation.

The program is not designed for every business on every campus, and that’s a good thing. Colleges and universities are, after all, institutions of higher education, not tax havens. The state would demand a match between a prospective business and the academic mission of a given campus. College and universities with a strong arts program—for example, the SUNY College in Purchase—would seek to attract businesses with a similar mission.

The program also would not apply to retail chain stores and food outlets on campus.

The campus zones would open vast opportunities for business startups looking to tap into the college market, including the towns and cities near the campuses. The state university system operates dozens of colleges in addition to the better-known university centers in Buffalo, Albany, Binghamton and Stony Brook. Many of the colleges upstate are already centers of intellectual and social life in their communities. Mr. Cuomo’s proposal will make them economic centers as well.

Upstate New York has been a rolling economic disaster for far too long. Mr. Cuomo’s plan is not a cure-all, but it is an ingenious step in the right direction. Perhaps the best endorsement of the plan was the typically knee-jerk reaction of the Civil Service Employees Union, one of the state’s biggest public employee unions. Its leaders rejected the idea out of hand, dubbing it an example of something it calls “Cuomonomics.” The plan, the union said, was yet another example of the governor’s emphasis on catering to the super-wealthy.

With enemies like that, Mr. Cuomo clearly is doing something right.

Apparently not. Here’s the latest—you may recall that last year four women filed sexual-harassment allegations against Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez. There was some question about how Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office handled the complaints. A full and impartial investigation was ordered, and rightly so.

Now legislators are demanding the opportunity to edit the results of the full and impartial investigation conducted by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a state agency. Apparently, the lawmakers fear that the investigation was just a little too full and impartial.

Here’s the worst part: the co-chairs of the bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission are behind the effort to edit—some might say “censor”—the as-yet-unreleased report about the Lopez scandal. Reports indicate that lawmakers object to any discussion of how the Lopez matter was handled, even though that was the impetus for the investigation in the first place.

All of this is unfolding in the midst of a corruption scandal that has led to the arrest of several top-ranking legislators in recent weeks. If legislators are worried about public perception, they have an odd way of showing it.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, an old Albany hand, knows that legislators are not keen about outsiders snooping around the Capitol. As The Observer reported, the governor doesn’t want what he dubbed “Scandalmania” hijacking his agenda. That’s why his recent threat to empanel a Moreland Commission—an independent investigative body that could look into broad ethics complaints—was a shrewd one.

If lawmakers can’t be shamed into getting serious about ethics reform, the governor’s threat may simply force the issue.

Sadly, it may be the only way to change the culture in Albany.

Smokers lose even more places to light up. (flickr, needoptic)

Poor smokers! Forced to shiver outside with chilly, chapped fingers all winter long, and then when the weather finally improves, New York announces that it will be expanding its state park smoking ban.

The ban on smoking in some areas of state parks had a rocky start (the state suspended it temporarily after smokers' rights groups threatened to sue) and the legal challenge is, in fact, ongoing, But apparently, New York State is feeling very cocky, not only moving forward with the ban, but extending it to even more parks. Now smokers will only be able to suck fresh air into their damaged lungs when they visit one of the city's parks. Or, the skin particle-laden air that passes for fresh in New York City.

"Our state parks embody the rich, natural beauty that New York has to offer, and our residents should be able to enjoy them free of pollution or second hand smoke," Governor Cuomo stated in a release, calling the expanded ban "an important step forward in ensuring New York's families can enjoy great outdoors smoke-free, in a healthy environment."

Smoking is already banned in all New York City parks, public plazas and boardwalks—in addition, of course, to all office buildings, restaurants, and increasingly, apartments. Smokers are increasingly being forced to huddle unhappily on the city's already packed sidewalks. State parks were some of the few outdoor spaces where smokers could still light up.

Now smoking will now be almost totally banned at Bayswater State Park, Clay Pit Ponds Reserve, East River State Park, Gantry Plaza State Park, Riverbank State Park and Roberto Clemente State Park. Smokers will be restricted to the sidewalks abutting exterior roads and the parking lots. Increasingly, the only oasis available to smokers is the back patio of a bar.

The ban will likely be unwelcome news for the city's smokers, who have had to contend with two new Bloombergian assaults recently: attempts to raise the smoking age to 21 and to hide all cigarettes behind curtains to dissuade impressionable young smokers from seeing (and therefore wanting?) them.

Moreover, the ban comes at a particularly bad time for smokers, who will not be able to light up at anything goes, topless, lifeguard-less Fort Tilden this year. The National Park will remain closed for the summer season because of Sandy damage, forcing sunbathers and swimmers into the city-controlled no-smoking Rockaways beaches.

Smoking rights advocates have vowed to continue their battle: "The obstinate posture by NYS Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey and her staff  in the celebratory announcement about this ban as if nothing is amiss is abhorrent," wrote Audrey Silk in a press release. "The crusade against smokers to date has so emboldened government  that there's no second thought to whether or not they're acting above the law by imposing law on citizens who choose to smoke and then fully expecting them to respect it."

Still, it's almost enough to extinguish a smoker's hope.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the legal challenge had been squashed. Despite the state's decision to expand the ban, it is, in fact, ongoing. The Observer regrets the error.

The cartoonist Thomas Nast made the phrase famous—some believe he actually fabricated Tweed’s response—as a symbol of official arrogance during the Gilded Age. Tweed is long gone, but the spirit of his supposed response—What are you going to do about it?—is alive and well in New York.

In the last week, yet another senior member of the State Senate, John Sampson of Brooklyn, was arrested on corruption charges, while two of Comptroller John Liu’s former campaign aides were found guilty of fraud. Mr. Liu, who is running for mayor, was positively Tweed-like. As The Observer reports this week, Mr. Liu suggested that prosecutors “put up or shut up.” How’s that for remorse?

In the aftermath of Senator Sampson’s indictment, Governor Cuomo reiterated his pledge to pass tough anticorruption legislation before lawmakers wrap up their session next month. Mr. Sampson’s indictment, the governor said, added “more of an urgency to do it, and denial is not a life strategy.”

That’s fine, but it’s not enough. The governor needs to make the mess in Albany his top priority. New York has become an ethical laughingstock—even more so than usual. Two members of the State Legislature, one from each house, have been secretly taping conversations with their colleagues. The legislators, Assemblyman Nelson Castro and State Senator Shirley Huntley, agreed to wear a wire after law-enforcement officials confronted them with evidence of ethical lapses.

If this all sounds comical, well, Senator Sampson’s case adds a truly menacing twist to the usual narrative of political shenanigans. Prosecutors say that Mr. Sampson secretly sought to get the names of witnesses who were cooperating in a federal investigation of his office. The senator allegedly said that he wanted to “take them out”—presumably not for a cup of coffee.

The U.S. attorney who investigated Senator Sampson, Loretta E. Lynch, said the case was “one of the most extreme examples of political hubris we have yet seen.”

Mr. Cuomo has hardly been silent about the ethical failings of his colleagues in the Legislature. But he needs to be louder and more forceful, because, fairly or not, he is going to have to answer for the behavior of corrupt legislators when or if he decides to run for higher office.

Of course, presidential politics should be the least important reason for getting serious about cleaning up Albany. But self-interest has always been a great motivator in the political world, and it is certainly in Mr. Cuomo’s interest to scrub Albany of the dirt that has accumulated over the last several years—including the two-plus years of his tenure as governor.

Mr. Cuomo and his allies would have you believe that his election marked the beginning of dramatic change in Albany. The persistence of political perp walks in New York would seem to indicate that real change has been elusive.

(Photo: Anna Silman)

Earlier today, multiple bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least two and injuring dozens more.

New York City has already stepped up its own security efforts in case there is a plot to attack additional cities, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced.

“[T]he NYPD has stepped up security at strategic locations and critical infrastructure, including our subways," the mayor said in a statement.

"Some of the security steps we are taking may be noticeable, including deployment of Critical Response Vehicles and additional police personnel, and others will not be. We have 1,000 members of the NYPD assigned to counter-terrorism duties, and they – along with the entire NYPD and the investments we have made in counter-terrorism infrastructure – are being fully mobilized to protect our city.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo issued his own statement announcing that all state agencies are on "a heightened state of alert as we learn more about this incident," the facts of which are still emerging.

"I have directed state agencies, including the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, State Police, the MTA and the Port Authority, to be on a heightened state of alert as we learn more about this incident," Mr. Cuomo said.

(Photo: Anna Silman)

"New York National Guard on Sunday sent three vehicles and 6 soldiers to support the Marathon, and they are on hand to assist with emergency response and work together with local authorities following this incident."

Several other cities, including Washington D.C., have begun taking similar steps to secure landmarks and high-trafficked areas.

In Times Square, bystanders were frightened by the news and the heightened police presence.

Kirsten Andrews and Lauren Adamo, visitors from Maine, had been following the news for the past hour in their hotel room and came out to observe the scene in the square.

“I wanted to come down and talk to a cop and see if they have a plan in motion if anything happened right now, because it would be chaotic," said Ms. Andrews. "I’m wondering why subways and buses are still running."

Ms. Adamo was concerned about the possibility of more explosions. “My stepdad’s in the military and he says all big cities are under threat right now,” said Ms. Adamo. “It’s a little unsettling.”

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

The Satmar Hasidim of South Williamsburg have their own schools, their own ambulance service, their own police and their own courts. And soon, they may have their own armory.

Rumors have been swirling within the community that Governor Andrew Cuomo's office, represented informally by Orthodox businessman Abraham Eisner, is on the verge of concluding a deal between the warring Satmar factions—led by the late Grand Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum's two sons, Aaron and Zalman—over disputed property.

The two factions, according to the rumors, would jointly purchase the 165,166-square foot, 3.2-acre Marcy Armory from the state, which has been trying to offload the property. The armory would be physically divided between the two camps, though the Zalmanites would pay more than the Aaronites. In exchange, the Aaronites would renounce their claims—claims unlikely to be backed by secular courts—on summer camps in Ulster County and a matzoh bakery on Broadway in Williamsburg.

"These rumors are simply untrue," said Matthew Wing, a spokesman for Governor Cuomo. "No one in the governor's office is involved in any 'deal,' and in reality the armory is going to be subject to a competitive RFP process."

Mr. Eisner hung up on The Observer when reached this afternoon on his cell phone.

The Marcy Armory, a red brick structure dating back to 1884, is bounded by Harrison and Marcy Avenues and Heyward and Lynch Streets. It has played host to many important Satmar events over the years, including weddings and anniversary celebrations of the late Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum's safe passage into Switzerland in 1944 on the Kastner train, escaping the Holocaust.

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

Just imagine the yam fufu!

Parks: what's there not to dislike?

A group of parks activists in Queens have been pushing "QueensWay," a linear park that would be built atop the old Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road in the central and southern parts of the borough. As New York Times opinion writer Eleanor Randolph put it in her pro-QueensWay piece, it "has no celebrity patrons, no Diane von Furstenberg, no Barry Diller, no big-name donors to give enough seed money to turn the park into a fashion statement."

But with a High Line-like makeover, she wrote, "QueensWay would offer both a walkway and a bike path. There could be small shops or stands featuring cheese guava buns, dim sum dumplings, pani puri or yam fufu."

Despite the lack of sweet socialite dough, QueensWay does have a few supporters in high places: Andrew Cuomo's administration gave the Trust for Public Land—now headed by former parks commissioner Adrian Benepe—half a million dollars to study the plan.

But it also has quite a few detractors.

Chief among them are transit advocates, who argue that the abandoned rail line could eventually be restored to active use—something that would be a lot harder if it meant taking away a park from Queens residents.

Reacting to the Times opinion piece, New York State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, whose district stretches from Ozone Park to the Rockaways, tweeted, "Sandy has destroyed our transportation, but who cares when you can have good food options." (The title of the Times piece played up its tweeness: "A High Line in Queens: Just Think of the Food.")

One former transit manager wants to see the R train run along the old Rockaway Beach Branch line.

And it's not just grandstanding politicians who are opposed to the plan. "Many people have argued that the line should be reactivated as a branch of the Long Island Rail Road," wrote one anonymous retired New York City Transit Authority manager over at Cap'n Transit's blog. "This would be better than a greenway, but not as good as a connection to the Queens Boulevard subway line."

And aside from the route's transit potential, there are reasons to be skeptical that QueensWay could ever approach the success of the High Line.

The best argument came from the pages of The New York Times itself. Back in May 2011, urban theorist Witold Rybczynski gave the linear park trend a reality check: "Advocates would like to see the High Line model take off nationwide in the same way Central Park was copied in the 19th century. But that’s a tougher proposition than they think, and it probably won’t be worth the effort."

The High Line, he wrote, "courses through the meatpacking district and Chelsea, heavily populated, high-energy residential neighborhoods." In other words, it's not just the celebrity wattage that QueensWay lacks—it's also the demand.

As Jane Jacobs wrote in her urbanist classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, "Greatly loved neighborhood parks benefit from a certain rarity value."

The High Line provides a rare bit of greenery and open space in a dense neighborhood. QueensWay, on the other hand, would cut right through a large existing park—Forest Park—and traverse neighborhoods where, true to the "Park" in their names, many residents have green space right in their own backyards. Rego Park and Ozone Park are beautiful places, but they are rather suburban as New York City neighborhoods go, and have nowhere near the density or vibrancy—in other words, the potential park patronage—of the neighborhoods around the High Line.

Still, the QueensWay train chugs on. On March 13 the Trust for Public Land issued a request for proposal, and the plan has begun to take on an air of inevitability.

Projected to cost $75-100 million, QueensWay would be much cheaper than putting trains back on the Rockaway Beach Branch. With the MTA struggling to fund much more important projects in the outer boroughs, it's hard to see a new rail line getting funding any time soon. And the longer the Long Island Rail Road lets the viaduct grow dense with weeds, the louder the calls to turn it into a proper park will become.

Welcome to the Adirondacks Transit Authority.

How did L.A. wind up taking our transportation lunch money? New Yorkers were so busy bullying each other, we didn't even notice when they took it and beat us to the mass transit punch.

The Architect's Newspaper had an interesting story earlier this week pointing out how back in November, Los Angeles launched its own congestion pricing system to speed traffic on some of its jammed, anything-but-free freeways, and it has been enjoying impressive results. This was, of course, "made possible by political gridlock in the New York State Assembly over congestion pricing," as the paper points out. All the while, the MTA has been hemorrhaging cash, leading to reduced service (later restored through cuts elsewhere) and all those fare hikes.

After Albany failed to pass the congestion pricing measure, a portion of the hundreds of millions in federal funds that had been set aside to start our program were given over to L.A. Thanks to their new HOT lanes, twice as many drivers than than initially expected, about 1,300 a day, are using new express lanes, zipping along at 60 miles per hour, rather than their usual snails pace of 20 to 25 miles per hour. Those unwilling to pony up between $0.25 and $1.40 an hour still benefit, as better traffic sorting should improve speeds for everyone.

Oh, and the program is expected the raise about $18 million to $20 million a year, funds that would go toward mass transit.

That is nearly as much money as the city loses in economic output each year because of congestion in Manhattan, according to various studies. It is also twice as much money as Congress is giving us to shore up the subways from the damage Sandy wrought on the system, though even that is a fraction of the total costs to rebuild and fortify the mass transit network in the city and the region.

So where does the gridlock in Albany stand today?

About the only mention Governor Andrew Cuomo made of mass transit during his State of the State address was in relation to the damage from Sandy, and even then, it was limited. The Tappan Zee Bridge, still without a strong mass transit component, got about as much billing in the governor's speech as the subways and trains that stitch the region together.

Meanwhile, Joe Lhota has left the MTA to run for mayor. Before he raised fares, he and the rest of the agency's board kept talking, over and over again, about the need to find more sustainable funding for the MTA. The person they need to convince, more than any other, is Governor Cuomo. Joe Lhota, who seemed to have a good shot at that, has turned his back on the tough job. Yet another break in continuity at the agency can only act against whatever good will Mr. Lhota built up at the MTA. Whomever the governor picks to succeed him will have a tough road ahead.

Because if there is one thing Governor Cuomo likes, it is a good drive, as he made clear at the close of his state of the state speech.

"We have an extraordinary opportunity to not just rebuild, but to build back better," he said. "We can rebuild a better society than we've ever had. We can rebuild thousands of miles of roads, we can rebuild homes and get control of utility companies that have been out of control for too long."

No mention of the MTA, which the actual State of the State book mentions only once. More time was spent making an elaborate joke about rafting in the Adirondacks. Nor is it even clear that thousands of miles of roads were damaged by the storm, but that is clearly where this governor's focus remains. The MTA went unmentioned last year, too, and the year before that, and may well continue to be an until Andrew Cuomo pulls up to the White House in one of his muscle cars.

There was some hope after Sandy that, with the governor and Mr. Lhota standing at the mouth of a flooded Hugh Carey Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, with harrowing pictures of a submerged South Ferry station, with lines for days to get on the bus and the ferry to get into the city, that the governor now owned the MTA and would have to do something to fix its finances. Those dreams began to sink this week.

But hey, at least New Yorkers are not alone on this. Yesterday, the Pulaski Skyway closed for two years as it undergoes reconstruction. The funds for that are coming from the ARC Tunnel that Sandy fellow traveler Chris Christie killed.

For a time, it was kind of cool that L.A., under the leadership of Mayor Antonio Villaragosa, had become a hot bed of mass transit investment, with new light rail lines, high speed rail up to San Francisco and now congestion pricing. It was the sort of novel story—mass transit in L.A.? Pshaw!—that sets writers and editors hearts aflutter.

But with each passing day and each passing mile, the story becomes less cute and more depressing. Suddenly we're the ones with the straphanger blues.

A Cuomo conundrum? (DCP)

Basically everybody but the Bloomberg administration and select landlords in the area wants to see the Midtown East Rezoning delayed. While there is a general consensus that creating room for bigger, more modern office buildings in the heart of the city's central business district makes sense, many planners and community groups fear the administration is rushing the plan to get it done on the mayor's watch, rather than taking the necessary time to figure out exactly what to build.

Now, the three community boards directly effected by the rezoning are calling on Governor Cuomo to intervene, and their rationale is an interesting, if desperate, one.

The Tri-Board Task Force on East Midtown, which is comprised of members of community boards 5, 6 and 8, is arguing that Hurricane Sandy has introduced great uncertainty into the city's future, particularly as far as infrastructure is concerned, and so the rezoning ought to be put off until the city figures out how to bolster itself against future disasters.

"The tragic events of the past few weeks have brought to light our city’s unique vulnerabilities in a world of climate change," states a letter the task force sent to Governor Cuomo (you can read the full text below). "Throughout the city, waterfront and low-lying areas, including Lower Manhattan and the far East and West sides of our borough, were devastated by storm surges while our transportation network ground to a halt as subway lines and tunnels were flooded. Incredibly, parts of North America’s largest central business district lost power for an extended period of time."

The irony here, of course, is that the sector of the city set to be rezoned was one of the refuges not impacted by the storm, beyond impacts to the subways and other ancillary problems caused to low-lying areas. It makes sense that planning resources might be put to better use working on emergency preparedness issues, rather than rezonings, but it also seems disingenuous to suggest that Midtown is somehow vulnerable to the next superstorm.

Then again, look at happened with the One57 crane. And who knows which ConEd plant might blow next time, leaving uptown or Midtown, rather than downtown, without power.

"We hope that in light of recent events, both the city and state will take a long, responsible, and critical look at how this East Midtown proposal, and other similar development proposals, can reflect altered circumstances, ensuring we build smarter," the letter concludes. "The current timetable does not allow for that."

Appealing to Governor Cuomo, who has taken a keen interest in how the city and state rebuilds after Sandy, is not a bad idea. But governors in general, and this one in particular, have a habit of deferring on local issues like this to the local authorities, in this case City Planning and City Hall. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask, and these are crazy times we're living in, what with Category 1 storms and 30 FAR towers buffeting the city. Anything could happen.

Never again. (Governor's Office/Flickr)

Hurricane Sandy was a moment of reckoning for the city, and that reckoning has begun. The general consensus is that the city and the state must build back better, stronger and quite likely differently than before. Are sea walls appropriate? Should we let people live on barrier islands? What kind of improvements should be made to our transportation infrastructure, and how?

These are among the questions our leaders will be grappling with, and to help answer them, Gov. Cuomo has just announced three new commissions, NYS 2100, NYS Respond and NYS Ready. The commissioners are a who's who of business, infrastructure, environmental, planning, utilities and emergency preparedness professionals and experts. As Gov. Cuomo made clear, their job is neither simple nor easy.

"These three commissions have been tasked with a significant responsibility, and we need the best and brightest professionals to serve on them,” Mr. Cuomo said in a release. “These appointments consist of experienced men and women who have the skills and backgrounds necessary to review and make recommendations for New York State to improve its preparedness and response capabilities as well as to strengthen the state’s infrastructure for the future."

Below are the descriptions, responsibilities and members of each of the commissions, as outlined by the governor's office:

NYS 2100 Commission

The NYS 2100 Commission is tasked with finding ways to improve the resilience and strength of the state’s infrastructure in the face of natural disasters and other emergencies. The Commission will be co-chaired by Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Felix G. Rohatyn, former Chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation. In addition to President Rodin’s leadership and expertise, the Rockefeller Foundation will provide both staff expertise and other assistance in developing the Commission’s report and recommendations. The Commission’s preliminary recommendations are due January 3, 2013.

Specific areas the Commission has been charged to review and make recommendations on include:
· Strategies to protect existing transportation, energy, environmental, and other infrastructure systems to withstand natural disasters and other emergencies;
· Priority projects to replace damaged infrastructure or to diversify or make more resilient our infrastructure; 
· Long-term options for the use of barriers and natural protective systems; 
· Opportunities to integrate infrastructure planning, protection and development into New York’s economic development strategies; and 
· Reforms in the area of insurance and risk management related to natural disasters and other emergencies.

Appointments
· Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation (Co-Chair)
· Felix Rohatyn, Senior Advisor to Chairman and CEO, Lazard (Co-Chair)
· Richard T. Anderson, President, New York Building Congress 
· Dan Arvizu, Director and CEO, U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewal Energy Laboratory 
· Walter Bell, Former Chair, Swiss Re America Holding Company
· Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Advisory Member)
· Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor for Transport, London, England
· Lloyd Dixon, Senior Economist, RAND Corporation 
· Mortimer L. Downey, Vice Chair, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
· Clark W. Gellings, Fellow, Electric Power Research Institute
· Patricia Hoffman, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (Advisory Member)
· J. Robert Hunter, Insurance Director, Consumer Federation of America
· Sudhakar Kesavan, Chair and CEO, ICF International
· Roy Kienitz, Former Under Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation
· Timothy Killeen, President, SUNY Research Foundation and SUNY Vice-Chancellor for Research 
· Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund
· Sylvia Lee, Water Manager, Skoll Global Threats
· Joe Lhota, Chair and CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority 
· Miho Mazereeuw, Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
· Guy J.P. Nordenson, Partner, Guy Nordenson and Associates
· John Porcari, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation (Advisory Member)
· Robert Puentes, Senior Fellow Brookings Institute
· Gil Quiniones, President and CEO, New York Power Authority 
· Jack Quinn, President, Erie Community College
· Scott Rechler, Vice-Chair, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 
· Jonathan F.P. Rose, President, Jonathan Rose Companies
· Lisa Rosenblum, Executive Vice-President for Government and Public Affairs, Cablevision 
· John Shinn, USW District 4 Director, United Steelworkers
· Mark Tercek, President and CEO, The Nature Conservancy
· Robert D. Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association (also member of the NY Works Task Force)

NYS Respond Commission

The NYS Respond Commission is tasked with finding ways to ensure that New York State is ready to respond to future weather-related disasters. The Commission will examine and make recommendations to improve the planning, training and resource commitment that must occur before the next major weather event in order for the appropriate deployment of people and resources to take place during and after the emergency or disaster occurs. The Commission will be co-chaired by Thad Allen, Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Admiral (US Coast Guard, Retired), and Brad Penuel, Director of the Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response at New York University. The Commission’s recommendations are due to the Governor by January 3, 2013.

Specific areas the Commission has been charged to review and make recommendations on include ensuring that:
· sufficient trained personnel can be activated for emergency response and recovery efforts
· the health and safety of hospital patients and other vulnerable persons are protected during an emergency
· the public is provided with reliable and timely information
· every locality has planned and is prepared for a disaster
· emergency responses are effectively coordinated across all levels of government
· adverse events are rapidly responded to and post-emergency needs such as shelter, food, water, electricity and essential appliances are identified and met

Appointments
· Thad Allen, Senior Vice President, Booz Allen; Admiral (US Coast Guard) – Retired (Co-Chair)
· K. Bradley Penuel, Director, Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response at New York University (Co-Chair)
· Doug Barton, Director of Planning & Economic Development, Tioga County
· Patricia Bashaw, EMS Coordinator, Essex County 
· Bradford Berk, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences & CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center
· LaRay Brown, Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning, Community Health and Intergovernmental Relations, NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation
· Major General Doug Burnett, Florida National Guard (Ret.) 
· James Burns, President, Firemen’s Association of the State of New York
· The Reverend Frederick Davie, Executive Vice President, Union Theological Seminary in New York City
· Peter J. Davoren, President and Chief Executive Officer, Turner Construction
· Grant Dillon, President, Global Preparedness and Mitigation
· Eli Feldman, President & CEO, MJHS and Elderplan
· Peter Gudaitis, President, National Disaster Interfaiths Network
· Tony Hannigan, Executive Director, Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS) 
· Jerome Hauer, Commissioner, New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (Advisory Member)
· Scott Heller, Director of Emergency Management, Albany Medical Center
· Tino Hernandez, President & Chief Executive Officer, Samaritan Village, Inc. 
· Bart Johnson, Executive Director, International Association of Chiefs of Police
· Timothy Manning, Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness, FEMA (Advisory Member)
· Mike McManus, President, New York State Professional Fire Fighters Association
· Thomas Mungeer, President, New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association
· Chris Renschler, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Buffalo
· Marilyn Saviola, Vice President, Advocacy and the Women’s Health Access Program, Independence Care System
· Jennifer Schneider, Professor & Russell C. McCarthy Endowed Chair, Civil Engineering Technology, Environmental Management & Safety Department, Rochester Institute of Technology
· Mark J. Solazzo, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, North Shore-LIJ Health System
· Harry L. Weed, II, Superintendent of Public Works, Village of Rockville Centre
· Sheena Wright, President, United Way of New York City

NYS Ready Commission

The NYS Ready Commission is tasked with finding ways to ensure critical systems and services are prepared for future natural disasters and other emergencies. The Commission will be co-chaired by Ira M. Millstein, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, and Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The Commission’s recommendations are due to the Governor by January 3, 2013.

Specific areas the Commission has been charged to review and make recommendations on include:
· addressing vulnerabilities in the State’s health care, energy, transportation, communications and other systems
· ensuring that new, modified and existing construction is resilient
· ensuring the availability of adequate equipment, fuel, food, water and other emergency supplies
· ensuring that first responders and other critical personnel are able to communicate efficiently and have access to adequate resources
· ensuring the availability of reliable real-time information for decision-makers
· ensuring that lines of authority are clear and officials have the authority to react rapidly to emergency situations.

Appointments
· Ira Millstein, Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Co-Chair)
· Irwin Redlener, Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University (Co-Chair)
· William Acker, Executive Director, NY-BEST
· Scott Amrhein, President, Continuing Care Leadership Coalition
· Robert Atkinson, Director of Policy Research, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia University
· Guruduth Banavar, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Global Public Sector, IBM
· Donald Capoccia, Managing Principal & Founder, BFC Partners
· Mae Carpenter, Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Senior Programs & Services 
· Gerry Cauley, President & CEO, North American Electric Reliability Corporation
· Mary Ann Christopher, President & CEO, Visiting Nurse Service of New York
· Arthur V. Gorman, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, US Marine Corps (Ret.) 
· Patricia A. Hoffman, Assistant Secretary of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, U.S. Department of Energy (Advisory Member)
· William Hooke, Senior Policy Fellow and Director, American Meteorological Society
· John Kemp, President & CEO, The Viscardi Center
· Kit Kennedy, Counsel to the Air & Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
· Steven Levy, Managing Director, Sprague Energy
· Robert Mayer, Vice President - Industry and State Affairs, US Telecom
· Daniel McCartan, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Western New York Regional Resource Center & Erie County Medical Center 
· John Merklinger, 9-1-1 Coordinator, Monroe County, and President, New York State 9-1-1 Coordinators Association
· Cynthia Morrow, Commissioner of Health, Onondaga County 
· Major General Patrick A. Murphy, Adjutant General of New York State (Advisory Member)
· Kyle Olson, Founder, The Olson Group
· Walter Parkes, Chairman, O’Connell Electric Company, Inc. 
· Cynthia Rosenzweig, Senior Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University
· Howard Schmidt, Former Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator
· Denise Scott, Managing Director, LISC
· D. Gregory Scott, Senior Vice President, Terminal Operations & Petroleum Distribution, Gulf Oil
· S. Shyam Sunder, Director, Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
· Major General (Retired) Joseph J. Taluto, Former Adjutant General, New York State
· Anthony Townsend, Associate Research Scientist, Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management, New York University
· Russell Unger, Executive Director, Urban Green Building Council
· Susan C. Waltman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) 
· William “Bill” Wilson, President & CEO, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of New York
· John E. Zuccotti, Co-Chairman, Brookfield Office Properties

For biographies of commission members, please go to:
www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/NYSRespondBiographies.pdf 
www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/NYS2100Biographies.pdf 
www.governor.ny.gov/assets/documents/NYSReadyBiographies.pdf