This press release just came into our inbox.

“Assemblywoman Paulin announced the introduction of a bill that will require motorists to remain at least three feet away from cyclists on the road.  This clearance will give motorists a margin of error when passing cyclists in case either the motorist or the cyclist is suddenly required to change course.

“The need for this legislation was highlighted last week when Greenburgh resident and cyclist Merrill Cassell was crushed under the wheels of a Westchester Bee-Line bus.  Merrill, a tireless advocate for making cycling a realistic transportation option, was traveling in the same direction as a Bee-Line bus on Route 119 in Tarrytown.

“We don’t want people to fear for their lives while bike riding” said Assemblywoman Paulin, “It’s common sense that we pass bills that encourage cycling, an act that encourages good health and helps the environment.”

Enacting a three-foot rule will help increase public awareness that cyclists have a right to be on the road as well as educate motorists about safe practices with cyclists on the road.

“Making roads safer for cyclists is essential in our car-centric world,” said David Wilson, president of the 1,400-member Westchester Cycle Club and co-founder of the Westchester-Putnam Bike Walk Alliance. “The three-foot rule will create a safety buffer between cars and cyclists.”

According to Jennifer Clunie, executive director of the New York Bicycle Coalition, at least 17 states have passed laws requiring motorists to give cyclists a three-foot buffer, including Connecticut.

“Cyclists may have the need-as well as the legal right-to move further into the travel lane due to hazards such as potholes and gravel, and to be more visible to drivers,” said Clunie, “Enactment of a three foot minimum safe passing law is a step in the right direction toward reducing the high number of bicyclist and pedestrian injures and fatalities that occur each year. The bill will make our roadways safer for everyone.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

So for today’s extraordinary special session, the governor plans to introduce no fewer than nine big, game-changing measures at once—everything from gay marriage to the much-needed public authorities reform, a new (scaled-down) tier of public pension benefits to a property-tax cap. And don’t forget the $3.2 billion budget gap that needs to be filled.

All in a day’s work.

(Update: the Associated Press just reported that the Gay Marriage bill will not likely be voted on today. )

Here’s what I wrote in January 1998: 

When Andrew J. Spano arrived last week to take over the helm of Westchester County government, he found that he had inherited little from his predecessor’s once-elegant office except a few dusty cabinets and a couple of ill-tended potted plants. The sumptuous leather couch and handsome walnut desk and matching chair and refrigerator were gone. 

Thus, Mr. Spano, the first Democrat to be elected Westchester County Executive in 15 years, began his tenure sitting behind a squat rented desk in an anything-but-power chair.

But as his first order of business, Mr. Spano used the laptop computer he brought from home to change the law that allowed his predecessor, Andrew P. O’Rourke, to buy his office furniture at a discount and take it with him when he left.

Mr. O’Rourke paid $5,075 for 16 pieces of furniture and a fax machine, said Susan Tolchin, Mr. Spano’s director of communications. The county also gave Mr. O’Rourke his computer, which he had received from the county’s General Services Administration in a trade for a personal computer. 

Mr. Spano would like to see that county officials be allowed to take only ‘’mementos’’ of their service, not fax machines, personal computers or brass candlestick lamps. ‘’What’s at issue is what constitutes furniture and furnishings and what is a fair appraisal,’’ Ms. Tolchin said.

I guess that means that incoming County Executive Rob Astorino can expect to walk into a fully furnished office come January.

Now comes the post-mortem. We’ll spend today looking at voter turnout, district by district and talking to experts to figure out the why behind the numbers.

 While about half the diners in New York City said they noticed the calorie counts and about a quarter said they were influenced by them, but the research showed that the calorie consumption actually went up after the calories were posted. The average meal consisted of 825 calories before the law went into effect and 846 calories after the law went into effect.  In Newark, the calorie-consumption stayed about the same over the same period of time—823 calories to 826.

So what gives? The researchers said their study showed that more education needed to accompany the calorie postings, given that it is so difficult to get people to change their eating habits.

I have a less scientific analysis. People who eat at fast food restaurants are influenced by the cost of food. Maybe the higher calorie food was less expensive. Or , perhaps in anticipation of losing customers to the calorie posting law, the chain dropped the prices of their higher calorie offerings to make them more appealing.

 These research results, which were based on a sample of 1,156 adults, are just the first course. Expect more news when the New York City health department releases its far larger study, which is due soon.

Schwartz, an always-astute reader of the political scene, is said to want Paterson to push the difficult budget cutting decisions onto the Legislature—so that he can, perhaps, regain the support of voters. Ravitch, who is often credited with shepherding New York City out of bankruptcy in the 1970s, is said to be more interested in the actual governing part of serving in government, has been urging Gov. Paterson to go ahead and make the hard cuts himself. It will be interesting to keep an eye on these behind-the-scenes machinations.

The improvement in car safety has contributed to the reversal, but even more important is the growing use of prescription pain killers. 

This is another reason to believe the public service ads that remind us to keep a watch on our medicine cabinets—and keep talking to our kids about the dangers of drug use.  Not that the increase is all due to young people, but recent reports suggest that  kids who don’t want to smell of alcohol or marijuana are turning to prescription pills to get high. Add to that the rise in heroin use and the increase in intensity of  the marijuana that’s sold these days, and you have a problem that the flower children of yore could never have anticipated.

The audit report issued by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli  notes that the State Education Department does not give specific guidelines on what snacks should be sold, so the comptroller’s office decided to fill the information vaccuum. Officials from the comptroller’s office  met with officials from the health sector, including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and decided to compare the school district’s offerings to guidelines issued by the Institute of Medicine.  The report even contains a chart comparing 10 snack items available in New Rochelle school vending machines—from popcorn to ranch flavored chips—to see if they meet district and IOM standards—now that’s  a departure from the more arcane sets of charts usually found in Comptroller’s reports. 

New Rochelle’s selections didn’t always measure up. The state ordered New Rochelle schools to take corrective action on six recommendations. The recommendations call for the district to create a wellness policy and ensure that all of the foods and drinks served in school buildings comply with the policy’s goals. The audit points out that the less-healthy snacks and drinks the district sells are “compete” with the nutritionally-balanced federally subsized lunch program offered and recommends that the district consider limiting the “competitive” foods that are available in the district’s 11 schools.  

New York is a state where officials make names for themselves by crossing jurisdictional lines (remember when then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was dubbed the “Sheriff of Wall Street” for enforcing what the federal government wouldn’t?) But other than the fact that New Rochelle’s vending machine and snack offerings might under cut the goals of the subsidized lunch program, it’s hard to see why the Comptroller’s office is  nosing around in the school cafeteria.