POLITICAL ARENA

Ydanis Rodriguez campaign hit with fines

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Marble Hill city councilman Ydanis Rodriguez was one of a handful of city council candidates from the 2017 election cycle hit with penalties over problems in their campaign financials.

The city’s campaign finance board assessed a penalty of  $3,377 against Roriguez’s campaign for nearly a half-dozen violations ranging from failure to provide merchant account statements to accepting contributions from unregistered political committees.

Campaigns cannot accept contributions from political committees unless that committee registered with the campaign finance board, or does so within 10 days of receipt of that contribution.

The board found Rodriguez’s campaign violated that law by accepting a $200 contribution from Laundry Distribution & Food Service, and a pair of $500 contributions from Local 831 IBT Special Fund.

The campaign actually refunded Laundry Distribution, but it was more than a month after the fact, which the board deemed to be too late. The $1,000 from Local 831 was never refunded, according to the board.

Those violations resulted in a fine of $1,625.

Another $1,250 fine was the result of accepting over-the-limit contributions, the board determined. One individual contributed $3,750 through five different checks — above the $2,750 maximum — and the overage was not refunded fast enough.

The campaign also failed to refund over-the-limit contributions from three people listed in the city’s “doing business database,” which restricts how much money can be collected from such individuals.

Queens councilman Rory Lancman was hit with the biggest fines by the board however — $8,490 — for several violations, including failure to report transactions, and accepting over-the-limit contributions.

 

No more bumpy streets

Some city streets in the neighborhood — in particular on West 238th Street in Kingsbridge — have been left without a paved top surface, and local electeds want that to change.

Councilman Andrew Cohen and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz have called on city transportation department commissioner Polly Trottenberg to end the month waiting period between when a street has been milled, and when it’s repaved.

“The conditions of these milled streets produce significant safety hazards for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists,” Cohen said, in a release. It’s also responsible for “creating traffic delays, damaging vehicles, and having various negative effects on our local businesses.”

The two lawmakers are asking DOT to shorten the time between milling and paving not just in Kingsbridge, but citywide.

Ydanis Rodriguez, Laundry Distribution & Food Service, Rory Lancman, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Andrew Cohen, Polly Trottenberg, Michael Hinman,

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