State lawmakers have two scheduled work days for the rest of the year so it's nice to see they're tackling the big issues – like making sure you can have a morning cocktail during Sunday brunch.
In a move that's sure to be applauded by sports bar denizens and people feeling some Sunday morning pain, the legislature announced a deal that will allow New Yorkers to order a Sunday drink starting at 10 a.m. – instead of noon -- at city bars and restaurants.
While it's nice to see that the state's archaic Blue Laws are finally being put to rest, um, ethics reform anyone? If there ever was a cry for action, lawmakers should have heard it when the leaders of the State Senate and the Assembly were arrested, tried, and convicted on political corruption charges.
But how much change can you realistically expect to see in Albany when the current leaders of the legislature are cut from the same end of the melon as their predecessors? Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan haven't exactly been storming the castle throughout their legislative careers. And transparency? Neither one of them has agreed to be interviewed on "Inside City Hall" since assuming power more than a year ago.
While it may be too much to expect an ethics bill to be passed by lawmakers, it would be nice for Flanagan and his fellow Republicans to put their ideological money where their mouth is and allow New York City to run its own school system rather than be at the mercy of "big government" in Albany.
You can love Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina or hate her, but it's hard to argue that city schoolchildren would be better off in the hands of 32 politically-controlled school boards. Heastie's Assembly has signed off on a three-year extension of mayoral control of city schools and it would be sensible for Flanagan to follow suit rather than engage in a petty game of political payback with Mayor de Blasio.
Hopefully, we'll have something to toast along with that Bloody Mary this Sunday morning. I'll even buy the mixers.
Bob Hardt