With the State Capital roiling and the August sun broiling, my latest podcast takes listeners back to a less heated time, bringing you along on one of my favorite summer activities:  Marching in June's New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride parade. This podcast includes my interviews with Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, New York Dems Co-Chair David Pollak, and other parade-goers, as well as my own reflections on LGBT issues in Albany.As the State Senate's only openly gay member, and the only openly HIV+ elected official in New York State, I am at the front of the fight for equal rights in New York.  Since my days on the New York City Council -- and as a grassroots activist in such groups as the Chelsea Gay Association, Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats and ACT UP! before that -- my leadership has made a major impact on the LGBT community.  This year was my 32nd time marching in the New York City LGBT Pride parade.

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This podcast features my first-person narration of a typically hectic Tuesday in the State Capital, as well as my one-person-at-a-time introduction of podcasting to the denizens of Albany.  As I make my way back and forth from my office in the Legislative Office Building to the Capitol, I encounter lobbyists ÃÂÃÂÂÃÂÂ amateur and professional, other legislators, government aidesÃÂÃÂÂÃÂand even Governor Eliot Spitzer.  Making his first appearance on my podcast, the Governor stops to say a few words for my loyal listeners.   State Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) also addresses the podcastÃÂÃÂÂÃÂÂs audience before the two of us enter an in-depth policy briefing with the Senate Minority Conference.Since I found that many in our State Capital are not yet familiar with podcasting, I spent much of the walk introducing those I met to the concept.

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This episode focuses on the "illegal hotels" that are proliferating in much of Manhattan, keeping desperately needed affordable housing stock off the market, and creating hazardous conditions for New York residents and visitors alike.  The podcast features a special guest appearance by my good friend and colleague, Upper West Side Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who gives an audio tour of a room she booked online in a notorious illegal hotel on West 79th Street.  Annie Venesky, a resident of the same building, is also featured narrating a walk through her floor.  The result is an intimate look at the problem of illegal hotels from the perspective of both a tenant and a "guest."  At the end of the show, I share some of the ways we're working to fix the problem.

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In effort to dispel the myth that Democratic minority members of the State Senate are powerless to change policy in New York State, Senator Duane uses his second podcast to informally discuss some of his strategies for getting things done in the Legislature. The podcast offers a unique primer on the legislative process in New York State, as Senator Duane explains how to move legislation in Albany on a procedural level, and on a personal one.

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With all the commotion about a waste transfer station replacing parkland in Hudson River Park, Senator Duane decided it was important to check one out for himself so he could report to the community and lobby his colleagues in the New York State Legislature.  Former New York City Sanitation Commissioner Brendon Sexton was kind enough to take him on a tour of a transfer station in Jersey City. 

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