The 21st St. Pat’s For All parade marched up Skillman Avenue, drawing thousands of participants and spectators on a sunny March Sunday. The St. Pat’s For All parade was founded by Brendan Fay in response to the long exclusion of LGBTQ groups from the large Manhattan parade. That exclusion ended in 2016 but the St. Pat’s For All parade continues as a vibrant Irish celebration drawing enthusiastic involvement from the LGBTQ community and the Jackson Heights and Woodside neighborhoods that host the parade.
St.Pat’s For All founder Brendan Fay, just ahead of the 2020 parade. 3/1/20
Queens borough president candidate Jim Quinn received the endorsement of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA), with COBA President Elias Husamudeen appearing with Quinn at a rain-soaked press conference at the site of a proposed new jail. That proposed jail is the Queens iteration of four new jails planned by the de Blasio administration as part of the closing of Rikers Island. Both Quinn and COBA oppose the closing of Rikers and building of new borough-based jails. That opposition, and his related opposition to the recently enacted changes in New York state bail laws, is the centerpiece of Quinn’s borough president candidacy.
Political foes Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo shake hands, seemingly at the urging of RWDSU’s Stuart Appelbaum, as they march in the 2016 Labor Day Parade. 9/10/16
Our focus is on New York politics, both city and state, but the gallery includes other shots of New York. Among the campaigns we’ve covered are the 2013 and 2017 mayoral races, the 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial races, congressional primaries in 2014, 2016 and 2018, the 2016 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary and the 2019 public advocate special election. NYTrue.com began in late 2012, with mostly video and little photography in 2012 and 2013, so this is a somewhat truncated decade retrospective that covers 2014-2019.
Special Bonus – Unabridged Gallery:
For those of you who really love New York politics we have an expanded decade retrospective gallery with lots of great shots that didn’t make it into the decade highlight gallery. Take a look, and a walk down memory lane, here.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. offer some goofy faces for a well-wisher’s selfie, during an election-eve appearance on Fordham Road.
11/6/17
Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis and Bo Dietl after a press conference outside Governor Cuomo’s office protesting the release of “Palm Sunday massacre” killer Christopher Thomas. Malliotakis and Dietl were bitter rivals in the 2017 mayoral election. 4/5/18
We’ve included a few 2013 iPhone shots in a brief addendum at the end of the expanded gallery.
Baseball fan Timothy Cardinal Dolan sports a borrowed Yankees hat while the hat’s owner sports Cardinal Dolan’s zucchetto.
Mayoral candidates fighting and occasionally smiling, a governor working his fellow electeds and the cameras, a hometown president passing through. Those are among the images in our 2017 photo retrospective.
Shot entirely in the five boroughs, our photo retrospective reflects our 2017 focus on the mayoral election and particularly on challengers looking to defeat Mayor de Blasio. There’s more, however, with a mix of light moments, conflict and loss.
Republican mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis heads to her car following a Saturday morning appearance at a Queens GOP “Unity Breakfast” in Glendale.
Former New York governor George Pataki today endorsed Republican/Conservative mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis in tomorrow’s election. Speaking at a press conference in Middle Village Pataki praised Malliotakis and castigated incumbent Bill de Blasio. He also endorsed City Council candidate Bob Holden, who’s running against incumbent Liz Crowley in the district that includes Middle Village.
“That’s fake news, pal … don’t believe that nonsense.” That was the retort of a Malliotakis supporter today when I asked former New York governor George Pataki why he supports replacing Mayor Bill de Blasio despite record decreases in crime and a resilient economy in the City during de Blasio’s time in office. Pataki spoke at a Middle Village press conference, endorsing Republican/Conservative mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis and Republican City Council candidate Bob Holden.
The Queens Republican Party held a “unity breakfast” Saturday, drawing all three citywide Republican candidates, Nicole Malliotakis, J.C. Polanco and Michel Faulkner, Borough President candidate William Kregler and City Council candidates Joe Concannon, Bob Holden and Konstantinos Poulidis. The breakfast drew a small audience primarily composed of Queens GOP district leaders.
Council Member Eric Ulrich drew several Queens elected officials to a City Hall rally Friday, objecting to the de Blasio administration’s efforts at using hotels in Maspeth and Rockaway as homeless shelters. The electeds’ objections, substantially focused on the process and lack of communication by the administration, left them exposed to the deep anger of the 150 or so people attending the rally. Those attendees, predominantly from Maspeth with a minority from Rockaway, deeply oppose siting a shelter in their neighborhood no matter what process or communication is used. Their anger eventually overwhelmed the elected officials’ efforts to conduct a press conference, driving those elected officials into City Hall as the crowd chanted outside on the City Hall portico and briefly marched on City Hall plaza.
Council Member Eric Ulrich got more than he bargained for this morning as supporters joining a protest he organized overwhelmed the press Q&A portion of that protest, driving Ulrich and other elected officials to abandon the effort.
Ulrich, a Council Member from Queens who’s running for mayor and long a critic of Mayor de Blasio, organized the rally and press conference to “protest Mayor de Blasio’s failed homeless policies.” Joined by State Senators Joe Addabbo, Jose Peralta and Tony Avella and Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Ulrich decried the de Blasio administration’s actions around placement of homeless shelters, particularly in the Playland Motel in Rockaway and the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth. Both efforts by the de Blasio administration have generated intense neighborhood opposition. It’s a good issue for Ulrich in many ways as many of his Rockaway constituents are strongly opposed to the administration’s efforts and it provides a means for greater exposure to the City’s full electorate.
His rally spun out of control as Ulrich began taking press questions, with several attendees jumping in to shout over Ulrich and Council Member Elizabeth Crowley. Those shouting attendees (including state senate candidate Michael Conigliaro) and the elected officials attending aren’t at odds, they all oppose the shelter placements, but the deep anger flowing out of many attendees overwhelmed the more measured complaints from Ulrich and the other electeds.
