Mark Greene speaks at FUNY meeting

‘Why has only the watchdog over City Hall been cut 40 percent?’

Candidate for New York City public advocate Mark Greene made a surprised visit to tonight's meeting of Fed Up New Yorkers at the LGBT Center in Manhattan.

Mr. Greene offered words of hope in the campaign against Mayor Bloomberg's third term. Mr. Greene reminded us of the famous words said by Ferdinand Foch, the brilliant French general and Allied armies supreme commander:

"Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I attack."

A very sobering statistic that Mr. Greene provided in his remarks was the fact that the City Council is crippling the office of Public Advocate by slashing its budget by 40% ! As is always the case in such matters, dirty politics is the suspected culprit for the way the City Council has lashed out against the office of the Public Advocate.

In addition to Mr. Green, a diverse group of people spoke at FUNY's meeting. There were speakers from Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Teachers, substitute teachers, former Mitchel-Lama residents, lawyers, urban planners, and retirees were also among the speakers. I would have to guess that over 20 speakers must have made presentations to the group about why they do not support Michael Bloomberg. And I would estimate that the meeting was attended by 60 to 80 people.

I was feeling sick today, but I decided to be unreasonable and attend the meeting anyway. I was exhausted and nervous when I read my open letter to Mayor Bloomberg. I studdered and mumbled and fumbled my words, but the audience seemed to appreciate my concerns. The line that got the most reaction was when I said about Mayor Bloomberg:

"You haven’t even noticed that NYU is the second-coming of Robert Moses, because while NYU is tearing down historical houses or evicting cultural landmarks, you have been busy closing down firehouses and advocating for the construction of more football stadiums."

Click here to read my entire remarks.