Free Republic

...the superannuated span, as emblematic of the city as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, has been falling into disrepair. ...its steel elements are rusting, exposed to the elements by lack of paint. ....It turns out that the way the city will pay for the upcoming paint job is symptomatic of New York at its fiscal worst. The bulk of that $85 million, or whatever the cost shoots up to by the time painters actually arrive on site, will come not from the city's operating budget but from its capital budget. That means the city will be...

She's married to Sen. Chuck Schumer, but if you're suing city Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall, leave him out of it. A judge has ordered a name correction in a lawsuit filed by ex-Staten Island ferry Capt. Michael Gansas that refers to her as "Iris Weinshall-Schumer." Weinshall, a defendant in the suit, doesn't use Schumer's name. "A motion was filed to correct the caption, as part of a larger motion to dismiss this case, since the commissioner's name was wrongly stated," said Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kay Sarlin. Brooklyn Federal Judge Leo Glasser granted the city's request for the name correction,...

<p>Ten current and former Staten Island Ferry workers say last Monday was the first time the city ever notified them of a rule requiring the captain, rather than the assistant captain, to be in the dockside pilothouse every time the boat lands - a rule the city says Capt. Michael Gansas broke during the fatal ferry crash two weeks earlier.</p>

<p>If anything.</p> <p>Mayor Bloomberg has an affirmative obligation - to the 70,000 commuters who use the ferries each day and to the survivors of the 10 victims who were laid to rest yesterday - to answer those questions. Today.</p> <p>As unambiguously as possible.</p>