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On last night’s “Inside City Hall,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn talked about the policy ideas she presented in her State of the City address, including plans to make sure every child is enrolled in Kindergarten.

Watch a clip of the interview above.

Tonight’s program includes: A special panel of rising stars in the African-American community; our Friday reporters roundtable.

New York Times

Taylor & Chen report: “Christine C. Quinn, simultaneously offering an agenda for the City Council and a preview of her mayoral campaign, proposed on Thursday to crack down on landlords whose buildings are deteriorating, to make kindergarten mandatory and to provide more job training for unemployed New Yorkers. Ms. Quinn, the Council speaker, touched in her annual State of the City speech on many of the basic issues important to middle-class and poor New Yorkers: education, employment opportunity, housing and health care. She did not offer a sweeping analysis of the city’s needs, but instead focused on a few specific steps that might improve conditions for those struggling to make ends meet.”

Anna Phillips writes: “A city board voted on Thursday night to close 18 schools and eliminate the middle school grades at five others, citing poor performance. The decision drew howls of opposition from hundreds of teachers’ union members, parents and students, who gathered in the auditorium of Brooklyn Technical High School along with a group that was inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

“Gotham” columnist Michael Powell weighs in on the critical audit of the Port Authority: “…There has been for some time a scandal-foreordained feel to this audit. Mr. Ward is widely hailed as a public infrastructure visionary with an independent mind. That trait can be a character failing in politics. So in October, a Cuomo official appeared to whisper to the New York Post columnist Fredric U. Dicker that the audit had found that Mr. Ward engaged in ‘extravagant overspending.’ This was curious, as the auditing firm had only just commenced its work.”

New York Post

Jen Fermino notes: “The Port Authority brain trust that orchestrated last year’s toll hikes failed to include a billion dollars in their accounting of World Trade Center costs — and no one at the agency yesterday could explain why. The blooper was uncovered in an independent audit released Tuesday that found the PA will fork over $7.7 billion to pay for the construction of the World Trade Center. That’s a $1.7 billion increase from the last cost estimate in 2008.”

Schram & Prendergast write: “In a scene that looked like an episode of “CSI: Staten Island,” cops launched a full-scale investigation at the home of Congressman Michael Grimm — after his mailbox was stolen, police sources said yesterday. Investigators dusted for fingerprints and swabbed the purloined postbox’s stone base for skin cells that could provide DNA clues, police sources said.”

Erik Kriss notes: “Republican Bob Turner’s congressional seat may well be spared when state lawmakers cut out two of New York’s 29 House districts this year because of population shifts. Insiders say the GOP thinks Turner, who won last year’s special election to replace Anthony Weiner, can carry portions of the Queens-Brooklyn district.”

Wall Street Journal

Jacob Gershman writes: “When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo put Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore in charge of the state's new ethics oversight board in December, he brought a political ally and a tough-minded prosecutor to bear on the capital. Less noted at the time was Ms. DiFiore's other role as the president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, which advocates for county prosecutors and is pushing for passage of a new state law that would send more money to local prosecutors.”

Have a great weekend. Until Monday.

Bob Hardt