Police shot and killed 16 people last year, more than any other year since 1998. But the number of those shot and injured dropped to 14 from 19 the year before. Thirteen officers were wounded by gunfire in 2012, a number also not reached since the 90s, but none died. Meanwhile, Commissioner Kelly rejected an NYPD judge’s recommendation to fire a Brooklyn cop for shooting and paralyzing an unarmed man. And an emotionally disturbed, knife-wielding man was shot and killed yesterday by police, although he had two prior violent interactions with cops. New data also show that blacks are 25 times more likely to be involved in a shooting - with or without police - than a white person this year so far.

The Speaker Race Explained: The race to replace Christine Quinn, the current speaker who is being term-limited out of office, began long before New Yorkers even went to the polls to vote for mayor in November. The outcome will largely be shaped by backroom dealing among political power brokers and special interests, with Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio potentially stepping in to ensure a candidate ideologically aligned with his progressive agenda is picked for the job.By Chester Soria. READ MORE

Who Will Be The Next Speaker? A public forum with the candidates for City Council speaker co-sponsored by Gotham Gazette's sister organization, Citizens Union. 6 p.m. on Nov. 20. RSVPs required: email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 212-227-0342, x39. #NextSpeaker

Looking for the full schedule of speaker forums? Find it here.

Other Stories We're Following

Bloomberg Signs Ban Of Tobacco To Anyone Under 21 (Wall Street Journal)

Night Falls And A Graffiti Mecca Is Whited Out (NY Times)

Former NYPD Chief: It's Time To Take On Traffic Crashes (WNYC)

Tax Plan Could Help Upstate At City's Expense (Crain's)

Liberal Bloc On Council Seeks Voice In Election Of New Speaker (NY Times)

Transition ‘Going Smoothly’ de Blasio’s Wife Says (NY Post)

State Overtime To Hit $600 Million (Albany Times Union)

Taxi Industry Wants A Friendly Commissioner From de Blasio (Capital)

Cuomo Preserves Health Insurance Status Quo (WNYC)

Carriers Reject Kill Switch For Stolen Smartphones (Associated Press)

NY Pension Fund Reports 4.6 Percent Return For Quarter (Crain's)

Today's Report

Loose Change Means Millions For MTA
Change left over on unused MetroCards added up to $95 million in revenue for the MTA in 2012, the Independent Budget Office reports. But the $1 fee for new cards is expected to cut significantly into that number in future years. (read the full report)

Recent Reports
Spike In Heating Costs, City Payphones Turn Profit, Flood Maps Will Increase Insurance Costs, Immigrants and Workers of Color More Likely to Be Injured on Construction Sites , Poverty, Chronic Stress, and New York's Youngest Children, more recent reports.

The state is expanding its buyback program to 129 homes in Staten Island's Ocean Breeze section, which was battered by Superstorm Sandy. The voluntary program will offer residents a little above their homes' pre-storm value, including additional money if they relocate within the city. They join 420 homes covered by the program in nearby Oakwood Beach. The properties will be transformed into open space or coastal buffer zones. Floodwaters knocked down 20 houses in the neighborhood and most of the others were badly damaged. Some residents have made repairs, but many remain boarded up.

Who Will Be The Next Speaker? A public forum with the candidates for City Council speaker co-sponsored by Gotham Gazette sister organization Citizens Union. 6 p.m. on Nov. 20. RSVPs required: email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 212-227-0342, x39. #NextSpeaker

Looking for the full schedule of speaker forums? Find it here.

Other Stories We're Following

Cops Stop-And-Frisk 80 Percent Less Than Last Year (New York Magazine)

Class Sizes Average 25 Children After Growing For Six Years (Daily News)

Deficit Facing de Blasio Could Be Smaller Than Advertised (Capital)

De Blasio Must Fight Legal Battles Left By Bloomberg (Daily News)

In Race For Council Speaker, Labor Is New Kingmaker (Crain's)

Candidates Spar Over Speaker’s Power At Second Forum (Politicker)

Judges, Experts Back Judge Scheindlin In Stop And Frisk Ruling (Daily News)

At One Address, $1.8 Million In Medicare Wasted (WNYC)

Thefts Of Apple Devices Continue To Increase (NY Post)

Ailing Federal Web Site May Have Initially Hurt State Healthcare Exchange Program (Albany Times Union)

Cuomo Still Getting High Marks (Albany Times Union)

State To Receive $900,000 From Google Privacy Settlement (Crain's)

No Place To Ride For City’s Dirt Bikers (NY Times)

MTA Tests New Subway Trains On Flushing Line (Wall Street Journal)

Select Bus Service Rolls Out On Brooklyn's Nostrand Ave (DNAinfo)

Is The Charter School Era Waning? (The New Yorker)

LaGuardia Airport will receive $37.5 million in federal and state funds to create new flood protections that will make it less vulnerable to future Superstorm Sandy-type extreme weather. The airport was paralyzed during last year's storm after it was flooded with what officials calculated was 100 million gallons of seawater. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the plans on Sunday during a visit to the airport. 

Reforming Solitary Confinement At The City's Biggest Psych Ward — Rikers Island: After years of criticism from advocates, the city’s practice of isolating detainees through punitive segregation has come under scrutiny from lawmakers and city officials. In recent months, the City Council passed legislation to bring greater transparency to the practice. But perhaps the greatest change will come in the months ahead. By Caroline Lewis. READ MORE

Who Will Be The Next Speaker? A public forum with the candidates for City Council speaker co-sponsored by Gotham Gazette sister organization Citizens Union. 6 p.m. on Nov. 20. RSVPs required: email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 212-227-0342, x39. #NextSpeaker

Other Stories We're Following

Bronx Assemblyman Tries To Avoid Blowback With Concussion Bill (Albany Times Union)

State Education Commissioner Faces Criticism At Forums (NY Times)

New Poll Says NYers Lukewarm To State Education Reforms (the Post Standard)

Anti-Corruption Panel Co-Chair Got $1M Through Loophole (Daily News)

Ex-Bill Clinton Aide Ickes Advising De Blasio (Daily News)

Cuomo Has Raised Stunning Amount Of Cash For Re-Election (Wall Street Journal)

Labor Plays Kingmaker Role In Speaker Race (Crain's)

LaGuardia Airport To Receive Millions For Storm Protection (The Epoch Times)

Charter School Leaders Want To Work With Mayor-Elect (Newsday)

Landowners Say They'll Sue Over Fracking Decision Delays (WNYC)

Bids reached record levels in the first taxi medallion auction in over five years. The largest bid for a "mini-fleet" of two medallions blew past $2.5 million yesterday, the highest such bid on record. Single placards went for as much as $1.26 million, The Wall Street Journal reported. The city's taxi commissioner, David Yassky, told the newspaper that the prices demonstrated the health of the cab industry "and by extension the New York City economy." But, as The New York Times reported, the higher prices have made it more difficult for drivers to become owners — a long cherished dream of immigrant New Yorkers.

New in the Gotham Gazette

Council Gives Public New Tool For Government Transparency: New Yorkers may soon be able to watch any public hearing organized by the city from the electronic device of their choice. By Chester Soria. READ MORE

Here's How Bloomberg Could Burnish His Reputation In His Last Days: The plan to rezone East Midtown to make room for new, larger skyscrapers is dead — leaving Mayor Michael Bloomberg without one more data point to his 14-year legacy running the city. By Chester Soria. READ MORE

Other Stories We're Following

Council Approves Post-Sandy Building Codes (NY Times)

NYPD's Kelly Says He Felt Betrayed By Mayoral Candidates (NY Post)

Ex-Congressman Could Be Breaking Campaign Reporting Laws (The Center For Public Integrity)

Tax Reform Panel Makes Recommendations To Cuomo (Albany Times Union)

New Park At Governor's Island Completed (DNAinfo)

Council Speaker Candidates Debate Policy At Forum (Capital)

NYC Schools Modifies Procedures After Child Disappears (WNYC)

Cuomo Signs Hudson River Park Air Rights Bill (Chelsea Now)

The city released what could be the final round of letter grades for more than 1,600 public schools. It is unlikely that the system, created by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, will survive his tenure. Bill de Blasio has previously said he would get rid of the policy, and a spokeswoman for the mayor-elect told The New York Times on Wednesday that letter grades provide "little real insight to parents and are not a reliable indicator of how schools are actually performing.” GothamSchools has a detailed look at the scores and what they mean. WNYC has a map to navigate the scores. 

Today's Policy Agenda:

_ City Council members vote to require all city agencies, commissions, task forces and committees to record and webcast meetings live. 1:30 p.m., Council chambers.

_ The United Federation of Teachers and other groups call for a ban on standardized testing of students in pre-K through second grade. 11:30 a.m. dial-in. #RecessFromTests

Other Stories We're Following

Panel Found No 'Actual Partiality' By The Judge In Stop-And-Frisk Case (NY Times)

Analysis of Stop-And-Frisk Skeptical Of Effectiveness (Associated Press)

After 24 Years, State Elections Board Member To Leave (Albany Times Union)

Cuomo Vetoes MTA Bill (Capital)

Lopez Accusers Challenge Silver's Efforts To Quash Federal Lawsuit (NY Post)

Councilman Holds Out On Armory Deal (Norwood News)

State Senate Panel Scrutinizes Common Core (Albany Times Union)

A Map Of Median Incomes In NYC Neighborhoods (WNYC)

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to rezone 73 blocks of East Midtown Manhattan and allow buildings larger than the Chrysler Building fell apart yesterday when the City Council rejected it. He withdrew the proposal after Council members made it clear they were not satisfied with the plans. "We remain concerned with the price, methodology, and timing of the air rights to be sold by the city," said Speaker Quinn. "We are also concerned with the certainty and funding level of the needed infrastructure improvements, which includes both above and below grade needs." Developers would have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into transit improvements. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio said he looks forward to rezoning the neighborhood in a way that ensures "real and fair benefits for the people of New York City." The stalled plans may be a boon for large projects in other neighborhoods like those in Hudson Yards and Lower Manhattan.

New in the Gotham Gazette

NY State Mulls Bill Requiring Videotaped Interrogations: Almost every major independent criminal justice group and association in New York state supports the videotaping of interrogations. By Chester Soria. READ MORE

Officials Claim Elections Victory, Look To 2014: A week after 1.3 million New Yorkers cast their ballots in the general election, the city’s Board of Elections celebrated the speed with which it had reported the results while also announcing it was making preparations for next year’s races. By Chester Soria. READ MORE

Other Stories We're Following

Weisbrod Brings Long Resume To Advise de Blasio (NY Times)

Experience Taught Austin, de Blasio's Transition Co-Chair, Power Of Community (NY Times)

NYCHA’s Land Lease Plan Faces Another Legal Challenge (NY Observer)

Bloomberg Rips Scanner Voting Systems' Lack Of Privacy (Daily News)

Rising Deaths From Hepatitis C Spur City Action (City Limits)

Parents To Sue State Over Sharing Kids' Data With Private Firms (Daily News)

Ex-Bronx GOP Head Admits Taking Bribe, Spreads Blame (NY Post)

Bloomberg Touts Demand For Borough Taxis (Capital)

Advocates Push For Publicly Funded Campaigns (Associated Press)

Latest High Line Designs Feature 'Otherworldly' Garden (DNAinfo)

Bones From Historic Burial Grounds Reinterred In City Hall Park (DNAinfo)

A week after 1.3 million New Yorkers cast their ballots in the general election, the city’s Board of Elections celebrated the speed with which it had reported the results while also announcing it was making preparations for next year’s races.

This year’s election on Nov. 5 was the first time that the board had used the USB devices — or PMDs — housed within the optical ballot scanning machine to report initial results. It was a major technological leap from the previous method of cutting and taping together paper rolls and counting tallies in election districts by hand.

That low-tech system got the BoE in trouble in 2012 when a number of districts in reported zero votes in the Congressional race between Rep. Charlie Rangel and state Sen. Adriano Espalliat.

“All of those zeroes on return of canvass sheets, all of those go away with the PMDs,” said BOE Executive Director Michael Ryan at Tuesday’s public meeting of the board’s commissioners.

{pullquote}All of those zeroes on return of canvass sheets, all of those go away{/pullquote}

He also praised the accuracy of the results returned through the devices, saying they “absolutely helped.”

The administration of last Tuesday’s balloting which led to the landslide victory of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio was widely regarded as not-so-bad given the reputation of the BOE for Election Day blunders.

Some complaints this time around involved the excruciatingly small typeface on the ballot, which Ryan pledged to prevent from being used again.

“That clearly was one of the biggest problems we faced,” he said.

Double-sided in 6-point font with an unprecedented number of open seats, the ballots raised the ire of election onlookers and voters alike.

Ryan repeated an earlier promise to get a sample ballot for the 2014 gubernatorial race to the commissioners before February so they can avoid similar criticism over font size.

The early planning will theoretically put the board ahead of schedule.

Ryan also announced the board had been invited to speak at a public hearing on Dec. 9 organized by the Assembly’s election law committee, which is entertaining moving the state primary up in the calendar to June beginning 2014. The commissioners didn’t engage on the proposal.

The board was equally mum on a duo of elections reform bills being entertained by the City Council that would institute instant runoff voting for municipal races. One bill would offer instant runoff voting for absentee and military voters, the other would extend the policy citywide.

A committee hearing on the bills is set for Nov. 21. A board spokeswoman confirmed that the BOE had been invited to testify.

It’s unclear whether either bill will make it to a floor vote before the new administration is inaugurated. Outgoing City Council Speaker Christine Quinn previously supported instant runoff voting.

Mayor-elect de Blasio has only offered measured interest in the idea.

“I’m not comfortable with it at this point,” de Blasio told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer during the campaign. “It's, I think, an idea that is founded in good intent but there's a number of specifics that I can't agree with, as least as it's written now."

Labor activists, Democratic elected officials, nonprofit leaders, and political organizers met yesterday to discuss how they could make sure that Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is able to deliver on his progressive campaign promises. “The administration needs our help,” John Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at CUNY, said during opening remarks. But attendees agreed that de Blasio will have to keep the city running efficiently to build support for his vision. Part of that support may come from unions, which are calling for some $7 billion in retroactive pay raises for the city's 300,000 municipal workers. Meanwhile, after returning from Puerto Rico where he attended the Somos el Futuro political conference and took a couple days off, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio evaded questions about who he would appoint as police commissioner and schools chancellor.

Other Stories We're Following

City Looks To Cut Emissions By Private Trash Haulers (NY Times)

A Grate Fix For Flooding (Wall Street Journal)

Con Ed’s 2012 Electricity Prices Were Among Nation’s Highest (Wall Street Journal)

Stop-And-Frisk Plaintiffs Protest To Appeals Court (Associated Press)

Layoffs For Those Who Fix City’s Bridges, Overpasses (Daily News)

Red Hook Community Court A Success For Defendants And Taxpayers (Daily News)

Mass Transit Tax Break Set To Expire (Crain's)

City Putting School Bus Routes Out For Bid (NY Times)

Is New York Now For Businessmen Only? (Salon.com)

Vallone Welcomes Oversight Of NYPD's Overseas Operations (Capital)

Today's Report

Spike In Heating Costs
A new national report by the AARP finds that the New York region could see heating bills spike upwards of 13 percent. The report also shows that the 30 percent of older individuals who have incomes under $20,000 will be hit the hardest, since this group spends the highest percentage of household income on heating bills. (read the full report)

The race to fill the job of City Council speaker is intensifying now that the election is over. Last week's Somos el Futuro conference of Latino lawmakers in Puerto Rico became an opportuntiy for the candidates to jockey for the support of their fellow Council members. The current speaker, Christine Quinn, will be term-limited out of office after unsuccessfully running for mayor. The process of picking a speaker is a complicated process, involving the 51-member Council, special interests and, most likely, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. The speaker has authority over which bills are brought to the floor for a vote and discretionary funding. The Council will vote for speaker at its first session in January.

New in the Gotham Gazette

Videotaping police interrogations: In the United States, false confessions play a role in about one in four wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence. The confessions often come forth following hours of interrogation, resulting in a statement of guilt put on paper in front of the investigating detectives or on videotape. But advocates have long argued that a written or videotaped confession only tells part of the story. Capturing an interrogation creates an undeniable record that ensures the veracity of confessions. By Chester Soria. READ MORE.

Other Stories We're Following

Common Core Textbooks Have Plenty Of Typos (Daily News)

Federal Lawmakers Call On New Council To Fix Public Housing (Capital)

Citi Bike Station Placement Sparks A Lot of Complaints (NY Post)

MTA Successfully Fights Off Most 'Man-Under' Lawsuits (Daily News)

De Blasio's First Big Test Is Picking Schools Chancellor (Daily News)

State Won't Say How Many Assault Weapons Registered (Albany Times Union)

The Past And Future of The Tappan Zee Bridge (Lower Hudson Journal)

De Blasio's Many Promises (Crain's)

Former Stop-And-Frisk Judge Criticizes Court Ruling (Associated Press)

De Blasio Won Bigger Portion Of Black Vote Than Dinkins (NY Times)

Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio has started rolling out his transition team. He made it clear his wife Chirlane McCray will have a major role in selecting staff. The mayor-elect faces decisions on major appointments like police commissioner and schools chancellor. Before announcing his transition team yesterday, he met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg; both plan to meet periodically in the weeks leading up to the inauguration. De Blasio will have to begin to decide how he will work with labor and navigate his relationship with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature. The mayor-elect will soon head to Puerto Rico for a conference with New York's Latino leaders but plans to stay a little longer for some rest. De Blasio and his wife have yet to decide whether they will occupy Gracie Mansion; their son, Dante de Blasio, wants to live near his high school in Brooklyn. 

How De Blasio Will Transform The City: With a resounding victory at the polls, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has declared a "progressive" mandate to counter the last 12 years under Michael Bloomberg. Now the Democrat has to match his fiery rhetoric with the more prosaic labor of governance. READ MORE

Today's policy agenda: 

__ CITY HALL: It’s taken two years but the City Council has finally introduced a bill to act on recommendations made by a 2011 commission to reform New York City’s lobbying laws. The Council’s Committee on Government Operations has a hearing on the bill today, althought it already has the weight of the outgoing speaker and mayor behind it — even with less than 55 days to go until the de Blasio administration takes over. 10 a.m., 250 Broadway

__ ALBANY: Environmental advocates will gather to condemn Republican Party leader Ed Cox's stance on hydrofracking at 11 a.m. Senate Chambers, Capitol, Albany. 

Other Stories We're Following

Support For Casinos Strongest Where No Casinos Will Go (Capital)

Brown May Discipline Students Who Blocked Ray Kelly’s Speech (Capital)

New Help For Poor Immigrants Facing Deportation (NY Times)

Coalition Seeks Public’s Advice on New York City’s Goals (NY Times)

Independence Party Fizzles at Polls (Daily News)

Developers Rush to Get in on Legalized Casinos (Daily News)

Cuomo Says de Blasio’s Pre-K Plan is Conversation For January(Politicker)

Schneiderman Offers Bill to Raise Military Tax Benefit (Albany Times Union)

Ray Kelly in Running For JPMorgan Job (NY Post)

Bloomberg’s Next Job (Wall Street Journal)

Millions Raised by AIDS Walk Spent on Rent, Not HIV Services (DNAinfo)