(Photo: 92Y.org)

With less than six months to go until the primaries, the New York Observer and the 92nd Street Y have teamed up to host an evening of discussion with all of the major mayoral candidates.  The event starts in one hour and, if you can't make it to the 92nd Street Y to see it in person, you can watch live online right here. 

The evening will include two separate debates. First up will be the Republican candidates; John Catsimatidis, Joseph Lhota and George McDonald. Next will be the Democrats; Sal Albanese, Bill de Blasio, John Liu, Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson. Both debates will be moderated by New York Observer editor-in-chief Ken Kurson and Cozen O'Connor member Kenneth K. Fisher.

Tune in below to watch the action at 7:30.

Vacancy. (SpecialKRB/Flickr)

There's a battle brewing over Gracie Mansion. Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't live there and he doesn't think anyone else should either.

“The mayor should not live there,” Mayor Bloomberg flatly told The Times. Mayors should sleep on their own dimes, just as he, and all other city employees do, the mayor, who has many many more dimes than most people, explained.

Mayor Bloomberg's most recent declaration has led us to ask ourselves deep, probing questions, like what's more entitled? Living in a free mansion on the East River or being so rich that you turn down the free mansion because you'd rather stay in your own, possibly nicer, mansion on the Upper East Side?

Candidate and former City Comptroller Bill Thompson has taken umbrage at the Mayor's opinion.

“Mayors living in Gracie Mansion are part of the rich tradition and history of New York City," said Mr. Thompson. "Mayor Bloomberg’s remarks fly in the face of former mayors Rudy Giuliani, David Dinkins, Ed Koch and every other former mayor who has lived there."

What's more, 2013 mayoral candidate and media executive Tom Allon told The Wall Street Journal that he not only planned to live in Gracie Mansion if he was elected, but had postponed moving from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn because of the possibility. Cheeky!

Showing considerable political acumen, potential candidates City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer declined to discuss their future living arrangements with The Journal, whose report prompted The Times to ask the mayor about the future of the 1799 home, one of the oldest in the city. (Although we would guess that Mr. Stringer, who has pushed to reduce the number of vacant properties in Manhattan, would be loathe to let Gracie languish).

One person who would like to see the inside of Gracie Mansion, at least for one night? The mayor's girlfriend, Diana Taylor, according to The Journal. He has flatly refused.

But Bloomberg is a man of many mansions, many of them vacant for much of the year. In addition to his 12,500-square foot townhouse in New York, there's his manse in the Hamptons, (known as Ballyshear), a townhouse in Cadogan Square in London and a walled estate in Bermuda where he likes to spend his weekends.

It's too bad that a 2012 presidential run will not be in the cards for Mayor Bloomberg. We'd love to know what he'd have to say about all the freeloaders who have been living in the White House.

kvelsey@observer.com

The Commercial Observer: So what is the background on the state’s issuance of tax exempt bonds not-for-profits?

Mr. Polivy: In the general municipal law starting in 1995 I think, the state authorized tax exempt financing that would permit the industrial development agencies in the state to engage in projects that were defined as civic facilities. It could be educational, cultural, a social service facility, you name it, it was broadly defined. But the legislation had automatic susets built into it and every two years or so there would be a flurry of activity, usually right before it was set to expire, or even up to six months afterward when it the legislation would be renewed.

The legislation stalled in 2007. Why didn’t it get renewed?

The only issue I’m aware of was in 2007, the labor unions said we would like to link the extension of the financing capabilities of the IDAs to a living wage bill so that all IDA projects wold be subject to a living wage standard. The bill would have requred prevailing wage rates for the workers who build the project and also for the people who work in whatever is built. And that issue has held it up in the State Legislature ever since.

So have all projects tied to a nonprofit developer’s ability to tap low cost financing been on hold for the past few years?

There have been workarounds. The Dormitory Authority has picked up some of the larger transactions that previously would have been done by the IDA. There are a bunch of hospital financings that it did. NYU Medical Center used the Dormitory Authority to finance a building it constructed. There have been a couple of private school deals, that have been done. I did one with the Dormitory Authority in 2009 for St. Mary’s hospital for children in Bay Shore, Long Island in which a new 10-story building was financed that will house children that need skilled nursing care. There is another alternative. There are issuers from outside New York--one is in Wisconsin; there is a Phoenix IDA--that has the ability to finance projects on a national level. We’re closing a deal now, a $17 million refinancing for the City and Country School for a series of seven brownstones they have converted into use as a school.  The financing will refinance the costs of acquiring and renovating various portions of those facilities, which on 13th Street. The Phoenix IDA is doing that deal.

What about this new city vehicle?

Well the city is now sponosring an entitiy that will have the authority to issue tax exempt bonds for not-for-profits in the city. By the way, there was an attempt to do this back in 2007 and it was stymied first under Comptroller Bill Thompson and then John Liu but the administration has apparently made its peace with Liu on the issue.

What will the city facility accomplish?

The city will be able to now compete with these out of state issuers. The city vehicle will be more streamlined for not-for-profits because when you go to the out of state issuers you still need city approval under the tax code and there needs to be a public hearing and approval by the highest official in the jurisdiction. In the pheonix deal I’m doing, we have to get Mayor Bloomberg’s signature to complete the transaction, which he has been supportive of.

What do you think this new facility will accomplish?

Anything that will help economic development activity is a positive for us and there is no doubt that by having another financing vehicle it will permit more capital investment in the NFP sector, which is one of the most vibrant sectors in the city. The result will be that additional development takes place quicker.

So is the city’s new NFP financing vehicle going to totally supplant the IDA’s prior role in this type of financing?

There is an advantage to getting the state vehicle back up and running. Any state entity can issue bonds that are completely tax free. The city’s vehicle is exempt from capital gains taxes but the borrowers are subject to state and city mortgage recording taxes whereas the state IDAs are exempt from mortgage recording taxes.

Thompson made a public appearance at the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, sitting on the dais with other elected officials, but leaving before Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrived.

When pressed on what the announcement will be, Thompson said, "We will announce it in the next day or two but we are moving forward, we are definitely moving forward."

Fundraising is expected to be a challenge for Mr. Thompson's 2013 effort, since donors might have less incentive to give to a politician no longer in office. And his 2009 campaign still has to pay off a $600,000 fine for illegal campaign posters.

Asked if he was raising money, Thompson said, "Beginning to. That is all part of it but we are starting some things and we will have some announcements in the next day or two."

Thompson now works for the municipal bond underwriting firm of Siebert, Brandford & Shank, chairs the board at the Battery Park City Authority and serves as the chairman of Andrew Cuomo's Minority and Women-Owned Businesses task force.

Thompson also weighed in on a couple of the hot-button issues roiling the local political scene. He said that he was in favor of bike lanes, for example, but said that more community input was needed.

"You go back to the last campaign and I was talking about the bike lanes and the needs to have communities involved in the planning of those bike lanes, and the fact that they were being dumped on people or dumped on communities without consultation. So I am not against bike lanes. I am in favor of working with communities to make sure you get it right."

Thompson likewise agreed with Mayor Bloomberg's position on changing "Last In, First Out" rules regarding teacher tenure, but disagreed with the mayor's approach.

"Nobody wants to hang on to bad teachers but at the same point there is too much pressure being put on the principals to get rid of higher priced teachers and perhaps get a two-fer, you know two younger teachers, lower paid teachers in return for one higher paid teacher," he said.  "I think what the governor is doing in pushing and saying let's accelerate the Race to the Top criteria, making sure we have multiple levels of criteria to judge whether a teacher is doing a good job or not makes sense."

The group is being led by Herb Berman, the former City Councilman who lost the 2001 comptroller's race to Bill Thompson. Berman is currently serving an "undefined term" as chairman of the board.

Among the star-studded line-up getting on the horn in Rivera's bid to oust Pedro Espada: Thompson, Rev. Al Sharpton, former borough president Freddy Ferrer, city council member Fernando Carbrera, Congressman Eliot Engel and borough president Ruben Diaz, Jr.

The scripts are basically the same, but the one for Thompson goes:

"This is former New York City comptroller Bill Thompson, calling for Gusatavo Rivera. Pedro Espada has ignored our community for too long, but this Tuesday we have a chance to vote for change. That's why I'm supporting Gustavo Rivera for state Senate in the Democratic primary. Gustavo is an educator and community leader who will fight for jobs and stand up for tenants and Gustavo will represent the Bronx with integrity. This Tuesday, September 14, vote for Gustavo Rivera and help defeat Pedro Espada..."

With so much of the Democratic establishment coming out for Rivera, this race seems to come down to the question of whether or not the powers of incumbency are so strong that they overwhelm grassroots and institutional support.

The charter review commission--assembled by Mayor Bloomberg to fulfill a 2008 promise he made to the City Council, when it allowed him to run for a third term--recently announced it would study the issue, as part of an ongoing series of forums.

The mere suggestion was enough to rile some of the city's top Democrats.

"Nonpartisan elections undermine our democracy," said the towering Mr. de Blasio, who appeared to have something of a sunburn. "They create a system that is dominated by wealth, suppresses voter turnout and makes it harder for minority candidates to compete."

Flanked by 30 rallying supporters with signs painted with large money-symbols, the public advocate cited Mr. Markowitz as an example of the merits of the current two-party system.

"Right now, regular New Yorkers get to serve in office," Mr. de Blasio said. "Look no further than Marty Markowitz, who, I might say, didn't come from wealth or fame."

Mr. Markowitz nodded in agreement.

"I think we can all agree the two-party system has served America and served New York pretty well," Mr. Markowitz said.

Why all the fuss now--when the convention won't issue its recommendations until later in the summer?

"As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," said Mr. Stringer.

mgonda@observer.com

Estades will be the "campaign coordinator," Powell told me.

Estades first day is on the job is Monday.

On Saturday, Powell is expected to attend the afternoon meeting of the West Harlem Independent Democrats.