Sad puppy. (utterlycute.com)

Some might say it's only puppy love, but councilman Peter Vallone Jr. is counting on a deep reserve of animal love to pass a City Council bill that would create an animal abuse registry—making New York City the largest jurisdiction in the country with such a database.

"It's modeled after the sex offender registry," Mr. Vallone said. "If you're on the registry, you would not be able to adopt or buy a pet in the city. This list would be provided electronically to all animals stores, shelters and law enforcement agencies."

Mr. Vallone introduced the bill—co-sponsored by council members Vincent Gentile and Elizabeth Crowley—to the council this month, saying that he had been inspired after a case last year in Astoria in which "a punk on Steinway Street threw a little dog out the window to its death."

"It really outraged the community and got us to think what we could do," the Queens councilman said.

The proposed bill would mandate that anyone convicted of any form of animal abuse—which could include animal fighting, abandonment, aggravated cruelty and failure to provide proper sustenance—would be on the registry for 5 years following their first offense and for 10 years following any additional convictions. Animal ownership would be prohibited for any individual on the list, a restriction that is often, but not universally, mandated as a condition of probation for those who are convicted of animal abuse.

Like the sex offender registry, the animal abuse registry would rely on self-reporting by individuals who move to New York City, with those who fail to report to the registry, or are found to own an animal despite being on, or eligible for it, facing up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Currently, there are three animal abuse registries in the United States, all of them in New York state, although registries have been proposed in other states and regions. In 2010, Suffolk Country became the first place in the country to create a registry—protect those Hamptons polo ponies! Rockland and Albany counties followed. Two bills that are currently before the state assembly—S. 3804 and A. 1506—are also seeking to create animal abuse registries that would apply to the entire state.

It is unclear how difficult it might be to enforce self-reporting by animal abusers, given that probation periods, particularly for misdemeanor-level offenses, might not stretch to lengths as long as 5 years. Currently, the City Council bill would mandate that animal shelters consult the list before allowing an individual to adopt a pet, but would apply to pet stores—which are regulated by the state—on a volunteer-only basis.

"There's a sense that as with sex offenders, people should be able to identify dangerous individuals in their community," said Lisa Franzetta, the spokeswoman for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which has been a strong supporter of and advocate for animal abuser registries. (It is unclear if the New York City registry would be available to the public at large, or only to animal adoption organizations).

Ms. Franzetta said that animal abuse registries tend to garner broad support when they have been proposed (indeed, those who decry the lack might take some comfort from the fact that regardless of their differences, Democrats and Republicans can find common ground when it comes to a mutual hatred of sex offenders and animal abusers). The only opposition to registries, said Ms. Franzetta, is generally rooted in cost concerns, although estimates for the costs of registries vary widely.

Has Mr. Vallone encountered any opposition in New York?

No, not really, he said. He thought the health department, which would likely be the agency responsible for maintaining the registry, might oppose it on grounds that they didn't have the resources, but they have yet to speak out on the measure.

And, despite the fact that registries might be available to the general public—subjecting convicts who have paid their debt to society to possible prejudice—civil liberties groups have been uncharacteristically quiet about the whole thing. Mr. Vallone said that he'd like any registry to be available to the general public, but realized that it might present legal issues. Like the time he tried to shame subway flashers.

"I asked the MTA to put up pictures of convicted subway flashers in their stations," Mr. Vallone explained. "Their attorneys argued that it would be additional punishment to what they were sentenced to. I disagree. I think there's enough of a government interest in keeping people safe."

The New York ASPCA gave its cautious assent, writing in an email to The Observer that it "supports any legislative initiative that aims to protect animals from abuse and neglect," and that it is "in the process of exploring both the general concept of animal abuse registries and the specifics of this particular bill to determine whether they will indeed provide such enhanced protections."

The Observer also reached out to a number of pet stores.

"Oh, I think that’s wonderful, I love that idea," said Howard Binder, the manager of Pets on Lex, who learned of the bill when we reached him over the phone on Tuesday.

A group of dogs walking through Central Park also barked eagerly when asked, we think in approval.

kvelsey@observer.com

Jake Stevens' wife was killed by a drunk driver who got off. (Matt Chaban)

Each year, there are upwards of 3,500 serious injuries resulting from traffic accidents. The NYPD has ten times as many officers, yet it only assigns 19 of them to look into such incidents and investigates less than 1 in 10 as a result. Even then, investigations take place only when those involved are dead or believed to be dying. Sometimes they die without an investigation because on the scene, officers believe the injured will make it.

Members of the City Council and families who have lost relatives on the road arrived on the steps of City Hall this morning to decry what they consider a lack of enforcement and announce the introduction of a set of bills and resolutions they hope will impel the police department and the Bloomberg administration to take action.

Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield gave a succinct appraisal of the situation.

"It's actually a perverse system," he said. "In the city of New York, what we're telling you is you can be a reckless driver, you can be a drunk driver, you can be an unlicensed driver, you can mow people over and nothing is going to happen to you. The reason is, we don't have the proper people power to handle it. At some times in the night, in the entire city of New York of eight and a half million people, you have one officer on for the entire city who is in charge of doing these kinds of investigations. God forbid you should have two serious accidents."

The problem for the council is that it has little control over the police department, so the new proposals are more public requests than public demands.  There is the possibility to overwhelm Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly with a wave of favorable public opinion (see: stop and frisk) but that does not always work (see: stop and frisk).

"The mayor and Commissioner Kelly could do everything we're asking for today if they wanted," Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander said. They also could have done it yesterday, or the day before, or years ago, when advocates started asking for it in the face of accidents. It is clear they do not want to, and may not ever, even as the council tries.

"Many like to criticize, but traffic fatalities are at the lowest level in city history and we now have 30,000 fewer injury crashes per year–30,000 fewer per year–than we did a decade ago," Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna said in an email. "Those results did not happen by accident–it’s due to the aggressive enforcement and safety work of the NYPD and the traffic engineering work the Department of Transportation."

The issue seems to be not whether or not the streets are safer—indeed they are, and the administration may now find itself a victim of its own success—so much as family's inability to get information, and thus solace, about their loved ones. At times, the department has been accused of obfuscation and obstruction. The NYPD public affairs department did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

The council believes the city can do more, and it has started with a package of legislation proposed by Brooklyn Councilman Steve Levin—this is a big issue in the borough it seems, not least because it is the most populous and straddles the line between lots of walkers and lots of drivers; Councilwoman Tish James was also on hand.

To begin with, Mr. Levin wants the number of officers trained in accident investigations way up, from the 19 currently assigned to the Accident Investigation Squad to at least five officers per precinct. He also wants the city to investigate all serious accidents, defined as those causing considerable injury to a limb—an issue outlined in state law. He would require officers to track the speed, sobriety and responsibility of the driver in an accident, a factor not always considered, as well as requiring officers to file a complete crash report and the department to publicly outline its crash response plan.

"The New York City Police Department is ignoring state law, and New Yorkers want to know why," Mr. Levin said.

Mr. Lander and Bronx Councilman James Vacca, chair of the council's Transportation Committee, are also proposing a task force made up of representatives from various city agency's and groups to come up with recommendations for the department in tackling traffic accidents.

"Our traffic investigation system is fatally flawed," said Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr, chair of the public safety committee. "If someone backs through an intersection at 50 miles an hour but doesn't kill anybody, right now, they're only facing a traffic ticket, and only if a police officer saw it. As a former prosecutor, I can tell you, that is reckless endangerment."

Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said a survey his group did found no police departments in the U.S. or Europe that did not conduct an investigation of all serious accidents.

Two New Yorkers had join the politicians to share their story of roadside tragedy, a son who lost a father and a husband, his wife.

Jake Stevens recalled how a drunk driver ran over his wife. "This drunk driver who killed my wife last year is going to get away with a driving violation" for driving without a license, he said. Because no investigation was done, it is also difficult for families to seek civil damages.

Jay Deter lost his dad Ray last year, when he was hit by a 24-year-old driving a Jaguar, suspected of speeding down through Lower Manhattan, where Ray Deter was on his bike. "He was hit so hard, he shattered the windshield, shattered the moon roof, before landing on the ground," Jay Deter recounted, his hands shaking. His dad lived for six days in a coma before eventually succumbing to his injuries. By then, all signs of the accident had been erased. The only charges filed were for possession of marijuana.

"The message we are sending by doing nothing is that nothing is going to happen to you if you break the law," Mr. Greenfield said.

Elisha Otis demonstrating his first elevator. How much has changed?

The hearing room was full and the overflow room was overflowing at the New York City Council’s offices at 250 Broadway this afternoon. Maybe it was the fact that this was the first elevator safety hearing since two New Yorkers lost their lives in elevators in the past year. Maybe it was the fact that this was the first oversight hearing on elevator safety since 2003.

This in a city where most people live and work in high-rise, all serviced by some 60,000 elevators.

The main issue of the afternoon was two new elevator safety bills proposed by the council: one that would require existing elevators to be furnished with more safety devices and another that would require elevator workers to be licensed.

“We require licensing of our plumbers. We require licensing of our electricians. And the lack of elevator licensing is a major loophole,” said councilmember James Vacca, a sponsor of the licensing bill. “It is also a threat to the safety of millions of New Yorkers.”

The council was largely motivated to hold the hearing because of the elevator-related deaths of Suzanne Hart, 41, an advertising executive who was fatally injured on Dec. 14, 2011 when she walked into an elevator that shot upward unexpectedly; and Ed Bradley, 45, who was electrocuted on March 28 while working on an elevator. Council Speaker and expected 2013 mayoral candidate Christine Quinn briefly stopped by to comment on these deaths and voice her support for the bills.

“The Department of Buildings, the elevator industry, and the union have all worked to make elevators safer,“ she said. “But when New Yorkers continue to lose their lives, it’s clear that more needs to be done.”

The tone of the hearing occasionally turned heated between members of the council and representatives from the Departments of Buildings, responsible for the inspection and oversight of the city’s elevators. Although Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said in his testimony that he felt the city was “moving in the right direction” with the two bills and later agreed that elevator mechanics should receive more training and undergo a more stringent certification process, his department still came under sharp criticism from councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr., a cosponsor of the licensing bill, and councilmember Robert Jackson.

Councilman Vallone, when he was questioning Buildings Department officials, mockingly commented on its current standards of qualification for elevator mechanics. “The mechanics have to be periodically trained as well as be able to provide the health and fitness to carry out their duties,” he said. “That may be the most minimum requirement I’ve ever heard of for any position, let alone a mechanic. I think anyone in this room has the health and fitness to carry out their duties.”

The questioning got more intense under Councilman Jackson, who became angry with the department over what he viewed as its vague responses to questions about whether or not elevator agency directors were allowed to contract out work to other companies.

“Are we running a safe business if in fact you can’t answer my simple question?” he asked. “I want an answer. Are you contracting out work?”

Commissioner LiMandri eventually said that, yes, the department was contracting out work, prompting Mr. Jackson to respond, “Well then how come you didn’t say that, then? That was a very simple question that demanded a simple answer.”

Mr. LiMandri apologized for the confusion, and subsequent councilmembers’ questions were much calmer.

Public opinion on the bills was mixed as that of a crowded elevator.

Steven Rakowski, speaking on behalf of Teamsters Local 237, said that the union supported the council’s desire to ensure that elevator workers were properly skilled and qualified. However, he expressed concern over whether or not the bill would result in job losses for current city employees.

Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums, said that, while the apartment owners she was speaking for wanted their buildings to be safe, they were concerned about the costs that would be imposed by new standards for elevators and by how quickly the council planned to implement these new standards.

One thing’s for sure: Law and Order: Elevator Inspectors Unit may have just been a Simpsons gag back in 2002, but in 2012, it’s an issue New Yorkers aren’t laughing about.

editorial@observer.com

Photo by Ian Reid for Getty Images

On July 1st, Councilman Peter Vallone’s newest piece of anti-graffiti legislation went into effect. The new bill, which prohibits the purchase and installation of new roll-down security gates (a classic canvas for graffiti) on city storefronts, took the Councilman five years to get passed. “This bill is one of the things I am most proud of,” Mr. Vallone—dubbed “Graffiti’s Public Enemy No. 1”—declared in his recent interview with The Observer.

Contrary to some misinformed grumbling, the bill does not make owning a roll-down gate illegal. Rather, it is now illegal to purchase and install a new roll-down gate. “No one has to replace their current gates,” Mr. Vallone emphasized. From now on, however, any new security gate that is installed must provide at least 70% visibility of the shop behind it.

The bill attacks graffiti in a roundabout way. “It is part of a pattern of novel approaches,” Mr. Vallone says of his bill. Approaches dedicated to cleaning up the city. Mr. Vallone is devoting his tenancy as Public Safety Chair to these cleaning efforts because he believes it will make the City safer.

Listening to Mr. Vallone tell us about his initiatives, The Observer was reminded of Mayor Giuliani’s city clean-up policy in the 90’s which centered around the (then-avant-garde) Broken Windows Theory.

The theory—put forth in the March 1982 issue of The Atlantic Monthly—was developed by Harvard University social scientists James Wilson and George Kelling as an innovative approach to the issue of social disorder and crime in urban environments. The theory got its name from the conviction that if “a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken,” regardless of what type of neighborhood the building is in.

Throughout the city, sparsely-tagged walls are rare, yet we frequently encounter walls covered in graffiti. Thus, the Broken Windows Theory of 1982 aptly becomes the Graffitied Wall Theory of 2011. By focusing on neighborhood clean-up projects, Mr. Vallone is attempting to make a safer city.

Mr. Vallone’s (near-)fanatical obsession with graffiti is also evident in his proposed legislation that targets graffiti artists themselves. Street art has long been a staple of New York City pop-culture, and while Mr. Vallone grudgingly agrees, he believes there is a fine line between vandalism and art. He reluctantly conceded to The Observer that “a very small percentage [of graffiti] shows some artistic ability.”

Recently, Mr. Vallone opposed Brooklyn Museum of Art’s planned “Art in the Streets” exhibition, because of its overt support of street art, or graffiti, as a medium of artistic expression. Despite some controversy, the exhibition is quite popular at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, CA.

He has also restricted the ease with which vandals (and artists alike) can purchase certain graffiti-related supplies. You now have to be at least 21 years of age to possess etching acid, and he is actively working to have the same restrictions applied to “Fat Caps” (which allow users to paint larger areas more quickly) and “Graffiti Pens” (diamond-tipped pens used for fine etching).

“I am running out of ideas,” the confident Councilman admitted, and he concluded his interview with The Observer by telling us that (contrary to rumor) he has no plans to run for Congress in 2012 and will remain as the Public Safety Chair of the City Council for the next two years--where he can fight the War on Graffiti.

His best chance for victory? Following the sage advice of Messrs. Wilson and Kelling, break out the cleaning supplies, and start scrubbin’.

The start of the second day of the hearings on the City Council's term-limits legislation began more quietly than the first, with about 50 attendees filling a smaller hearing room.

The first group to give testimony today was pro-legislation, and among its notable members was Time Warner chairman Richard D. Parsons. Parsons called the circumstances of the economy "frightening, perilous or even dangerous" and argued it could soon make the 1970s crisis "look like a day at the beach."

Peter Vallone Sr., former speaker of the Council, cited times during his tenure that an experienced group of lawmakers could stand up to the mayor in a way that a bunch of freshman are less likely to. The mentality of term limits, he said, is that old politicians are like "dirty diapers."

His son, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., is in the chambers sitting at the Council table, and immediately expressed regret that the question cannot be put to voters. He asked his father why it is more appropriate for the Council to act now, instead of waiting for a referendum. The elder Vallone spoke again on the virtues of legislative action.

Councilwoman Letitia James asked Parsons how the next election can be a fair fight if Bloomberg, who has "unmatched resources" and the "power of incumbency," is a candidate. Parsons pointed out that another billionaire, Tom Golisano, is opposing the mayor's legislation.

Vallone, who advocates a tough line on graffiti and dangerous thrill-seeking activities, disagrees.

Many fund-raisers feature a cutesy way of referring to different levels of contributors. This one takes the cutesiness to a whole new level.

"This is madness," writes the reader. "I'm already panicked about how to get lunch."

It took me about 30 minutes to work my way through the crowd, and I ran into Peter Vallone, Jr., who was having the same problem.

]]> A reader safely tucked into her office at One Centre Street sent this picture from far above the festivities celebrating the Super Bowl victory of the New York Giants.

"This is madness," writes the reader. "I'm already panicked about how to get lunch."

It took me about 30 minutes to work my way through the crowd, and I ran into Peter Vallone, Jr., who was having the same problem.

]]> http://observer.com/2008/02/giants-fans-at-city-hall/feed/ 0 jhanasobserver http://observer.com/2008/02/vallone-defends-homework-resolution/#comments Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:17:05 -0400 http://observer.com/2008/02/vallone-defends-homework-resolution/ Azi Paybarah http://www.observer.com/2008/02/vallone-defends-homework-resolution/ Coucilman Peter Vallone. Jr.'s resolution to limit homework in New York City public schools has faced resistance since he started talking about it last November. Today's attack, Vallone says, is unfair.

In a column today, John Dipaolo, whose organization runs two charter schools, opposes Vallone’s resolution, and supports his case by referring to the film Two Million Minutes, which compares the time that high school students in various nations spend on schoolwork.

Vallone told me, “In order to attack my resolution about grade school homework, he cites a film about high school homework, which is like comparing apples to oranges.”

“My resolution talks about grade school homework,” he continued. “You would think that somebody who ran two charter schools could find some evidence to refute me, as opposed to comparing apples to oranges.”

Vallone's proposal would limit homework to 10 minutes per grade every night for students up to the eigth grade, with one night off a week.

UPDATE: Dipaolo's column does make reference to elementary school homework, citing a study fifth graders reading habits.