The City Council’s budget negotiating team stayed late last night at City Hall, trying to hammer out a budget before the June 30 deadline. A handshake agreement is expected today or tomorrow.
In the meantime, it’s a scene. Lobbyists have been a permanent fixture on the City Hall steps and in the City Hall rotunda for days, if not weeks, hounding lawmakers, staffers, and even reporters for any information.
Yesteday afternoon, I bumped into City Councilman Tony Avella across the street from City Hall. When I asked about the budget, he threw up his hands up–it seems he’s waiting for information, just like the rest of us. Downstairs in the basement of City Hall, I saw Helen Foster and Diana Reyna walking by. When I asked if we had a budget deal yet, Foster said, “Am I a size 4 yet?”
So, if you want to know what’s going on, try prying information out of the City Council’s budget negotiating team [an earlier version left off some members]:
Robert Jackson
Gale Brewer
Melissa Mark Viverito
Dan Garodnick
Miguel Martinez
Melinda Katz
David Weprin
Helen Sears
Larry Seabrook
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Maria Baez
Jimmy Oddo
Erik Dilan (Tish James sometimes substites for him)
Sara Gonzalez
Diana Reyna
Vinny Ignizio
Helen Foster
Tom White
Joel Rivera
Bill de Blasio
Lew Fidler
Inez Dickens
Leroy Comrie
Mike McMahon
