How many public beaches are there in the city, and which of them are the dirtiest?
How much salary does Michael Bloomberg draw as mayor of New York City?
The answers to these questions are available online, thanks to Local Law 11, which since February 2003 has required all city agencies to post official documents online. The first law in the nation to do this, Local Law 11 was aiming to “improve the efficiency and accessibility of municipal government”
New Yorkers can now go to a government records page, where there are links to 15 general categories, from Business and Consumer to Transportation.
A little tooling-around in the Environment category yields the information (by linking to a report from August, 2004 called “Swimming in Trash? A Look into Cleanliness at NYC Beaches”) that there are seven public beaches in New York City, covering 14 miles of shoreline, and South Beach and Midland Beach, both in Staten Island, were found to be the dirtiest. The Labor Relations category ( section 1 in the civil list) offers up the information that a certain “MR Bloomberg” receives “$1.00” a year for “mayoralty.”
Unfortunately, it is not easy to find this information, or much anything else, without stumbling upon it. The implementation of the law has not lived up to expectations. Almost four years later, some city agencies have barely provided any of their documents at all.
In Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the character Arthur Dent’s home is demolished because the notification from City Hall that they were going to bulldoze it "was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door that said 'beware of the leopard.' "
New York City’s bureaucracy might not be quite as impenetrable. But many city agencies do not provide easy access to their official documents online; they are in effect breaking the law, local law 11. There are several reasons for their lack of compliance. For one, there is no enforcement mechanism; the law does not discuss penalties for agencies that do not comply. On a practical level, it is not possible for agencies to upload their documents directly to the online portal. Although this capability was envisioned from the beginning, as of this time all agencies must submit their documents to the City Hall Library, which does the posting. The most significant barrier to full compliance may be that the state’s Freedom of Information Law is structured around physical documents. To be fair, some provisions of the 1978 law -- which is the underpinning of open government in New York State -- did take account of society’s move into the computer age. But as of 2006, the law is still so oriented to responding to Freedom of Information Law requests for physical documents that it even specifies the maximum cost for photocopies that agencies can charge, while having little to say about electronic versions.
A limitation of the online site run by the City Hall library is that documents are only arranged by category and not by agency as well. This makes it difficult to determine precisely the extent to which each city agency is complying with the law. Nevertheless, the categories are logical enough that it is possible to get a good sense of how various agencies have responded to Local Law 11.
Both the Office of the Comptroller and the City Planning Commission stand out in their compliance with the law. The Comptroller began posting documents online even before the law was passed, and keeps up to date within a month or so. More than 500 records from the comptroller’s office, mostly within the Finance and Budget category, are available online.
The bulk of the City Planning Commission’s documents are within the Housing and Buildings category. There are more than 750 documents in this section, most from City Planning. The earliest report from the City Planning Commission is from July 2003, not long after passage of Local Law 11. The latest was last month.
By contrast, the Recreations/Parks category has no reports at all. Although this appears to be an indictment of the Department of Parks and Recreation, a glance at the department’s attractive web site reveals that they do wish to communicate with City residents. Among other things the department’s own Web site provides are access to park maps, permit applications, and information for businesses. But compliance with Local Law 11 has not been a priority for the Parks Department. The Cultural/Entertainment category is almost as bad. There are only two documents here, both published in 2003.
The Department of Records estimates that the government records page receives as many as 3,000 unique visitors per week. There clearly is a constituency for this information. If City Hall sincerely desires that all official agency documents be available online in a centralized location—which, after all, is the point of Local Law 11—there are short-term and long-term ways to bring this about.
The short-term approach is to provide access to documents by agency as well as by category. This would not guarantee that agencies would submit documents, but at least it would be harder for them to avoid the spotlight if they did not.
Another useful enhancement to this page would be to set up a simple search function for the documents that works like Google. Right now you have to determine in advance which category a document is likely to fit within, and then scroll through pages of results.
The Freedom of Information Law needs an overhaul, so that the presumption underlying the law equates open government with free online access to government documents. Physical copies of documents should continue to exist, both for purposes of preservation and for the benefit of state residents without online access. With such a law in place, interested city residents could have the confidence to know that they can go online and find what they are looking for.
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Every two weeks the New York City Council meets for its Stated Meeting to introduce and pass legislation. As a regular feature, Gotham Gazette covers these meetings and posts a summary of the bills passed.
Christine Quinn's City Council overrode its first mayoral veto on September 13, 2006, passing a bill designed to prevent price gouging at gas stations over Mayor Michael Bloomberg's objections. Speaker Quinn, whose term began in January, said that the Council and the mayor had "agreed to disagree."
After evidence of price gouging arose in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the council began working on a bill to prevent such behavior in the future. In July, it approved Intro 296, which says that gas stations must keep their prices the same for a 24-hour period before they can change them again. The Department of Consumer Affairs would enforce the regulation.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed the bill, saying that existing fraud protection laws were sufficient. "Telling a business how often it can change its prices is just not something that the City should do," said the mayor in his veto message. "It does not address the real issue, and unduly interferes with private enterprise."
The council overrode the veto by a vote of 43 to 6. Democratic council members Simcha Felder, Daniel Garodnick, and Helen Sears voted no, as did Republican council members Dennis Gallager, Andrew Lanza, and James Oddo.
Quinn downplayed the first legislative conflict in what to date has been a remarkably cordial relationship between herself and Mayor Bloomberg.
"A lot has been made of the fact that the mayor and I have a good working relationship, and we do, and we will continue to," she said. "But the mayor and I have both said repeatedly that having a good working relationship is not synonymous with always being in agreement."
Quinn declined to comment when asked whether she would be willing to take the mayor on in court over the matter – something that happened numerous times during Gifford Miller's time at the head of the council.
The council also passed a measure to rezone a four-block area of Northern Tribeca currently zoned for manufacturing. Under the plan, the area would be opened for the development of apartment buildings and 180 spaces of parking in the area bordered by West, Watts, Washington, and Hubert Streets.
What was passed on September 13 was different than the plan first brought by Jack Parker Corporation, a real estate developer. The local community board, Councilmember Alan Gerson, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer all opposed the Parker Corporation's original proposal, saying the development would be too dense. An earlier council vote was delayed at the last minute when an agreement was not reached in time.
The maximum height of the buildings and the heights of the setbacks along Washington Street were reduced, and the developer agreed not to move big box stores into the spaces. Local critics dropped their opposition, and the plan passed the council unanimously.
The council also voted on new appointments to various boards and commissions, a matter one council staffer described as a "housekeeping" matter before the meeting. But the appointments to the Art Commission -- the group that reviews decisions about public art and architecture on city property and serves as the caretaker of the city's public art collection -- provoked a strong response from many members of the members of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus.
Over a quarter of the members of the council raised concerns about the lack of diversity on the 11-member council, which, they complain, counts no people of color among its ranks. Three white candidates were nominated to serve on the commission: Paula Scher, James Polshek, and Guy J.P. Nordenson. Nine Democratic city council members ended up voting against these appointments: Charles Barron, Helen Foster, Letitia James, Darlene Mealy, Hiram Monserrate, Annabel Palma, Kendall Stewart, Albert Vann, and Melissa Mark Viverito.
"I believe that it is inexcusable to have a commission that does not reflect the diversity of the city," said Monserrate. "I think it is disrespectful. I think it is insensitive."
The next Stated Meeting is scheduled for September 27, 2006. Â
These are the State Senate districts that will have primaries on Tuesday, Sept. 12. (Incumbents’ names are in boldface)
District 10 (Jamaica): Democratic primary
• Shirley Huntley
• Ada Smith
Smith, a nine-term incumbent, has long been criticized for erratic behavior, with the latest incident coming earlier this year when an aide accused Smith of throwing hot coffee at her. A court fined Smith $250 and ordered her to take anger management classes.
But it looks like she will not have to leave office. One possible rival– Alan Jennings, a former City Council member with his own history of unusual conduct – was knocked off the ballot. Although the Board of Elections lists Shirley Huntley as a candidate in the Democratic primary, there is little evidence of her campaign.
District 13 (Corona, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst): Democratic primary
• Hiram Monserrate
• John Sabini
This is a rare case where an incumbent – Sabini – is facing a strong well-financed challenge, in this case from City Councilmember Moneserrate. For more on this race, go to Bringing the Money Back from Albany or to a transcript of a debatebetween the candidates.
District 18 (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Red Hook, parts of Park Slope, Carroll Gardens) Democratic primary:
• Tracy Boyland
• Velmanette Montgomery
Montgomery, a onetime teacher, was elected to the State Senate in 1984. But her incumbency has not stopped a challenge from Boyland, a member of the famed Brooklyn political family and a member of City Council until January. Most observersbelieve Bruce Ratner, the developer of Atlantic Yards, has put up Boyland to challenge Montgomery, an opponent of the proposed Brooklyn Nets arena and housing complex. That makes this an unusual head-to-head contest between two candidates with differing views on the mega project.
District 20 (Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Prospect Heights) Democratic primary:
• Eric Adams
•Anthony Alexis
•Guillermo Philpotts
Three Democrats are hoping to replace Carl Andrews, who is leaving the post to run for Congress. Adams, a former police captain, founded the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, while Alexis has been a political aide and Democratic Party activist. Guillermo Philpotts is a frequent candidate for various offices.
For more information, read Debating Health, Education, Reform and, Yes, Atlantic Yards, in Central Brooklyn
District 21 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, part of Flatbush): Democratc primary
• Noach Dear
• Kevin Parker
Parker was first elected to the State Senate in 2002, and this is the third time he has faced Dear, a former City Council member. In 2002, Dear ran as a Republican and lost. In 2004, Dear tried his luck as a Democrat and lost, although by less than 10 percent. Now he is trying again, hoping that Parker’s alleged punching of a traffic cop and the large Orthodox Jewish community can put him over the top. Parker has picked up an array of endorsements from such groups as Citizens Union and Lambda Independent Democrats.
District 24 (Staten Island): Republican primary
• Robert Helbock
• Anthony Lanza
There’s been little election action in this Senate district for decades, since Republican John Marchi has held the seat for 49 years. Now Marchi, 85, is retiring, opening the way for a contested race. The Republican primary in this district, traditionally friendly territory for Republicans, pits Helbock, Marchi’s counsel, against the City Council member for the area, Andrew Lanza.
For more on the contest – the only Republican State Senate primary this year-- see Democrats Move in on Staten Island's Republican South Shore.
District 25 (Lower Manhattan, part of Brooklyn Heights): Democratic primary
• Martin Connor
• Ken Diamondstone
The candidates here seem to be spending more time in hearing rooms and courts than on the campaign trail. Incumbent Connor, himself an election law specialist and reportedly somewhat of an expert on ballot challenges, has tried to keep Diamondstone off the ballot, charging that his opponent does not really live in the district. Diamondstone has beaten back his efforts.
Connor has served in the Senate since 1978, was Senate minority leader and has been described by the New York Times as “something of an Albany institution.” But Diamondstone has picked up some endorsements, including the Times, the Working Families Party and Democracy for New York City. Diamondstone also reportedly is better funded, pouring his own funds into the race. (For more, see the Downtown Express.)
District 36 (north central Bronx): Democratic primary
• Ruth Thompson
• Crystal Wade
Thompson, a former member of the Mount Vernon City Council who was first elected to the State Senate in 2000, is facing a challenge from Wade, who lives in the New York City part of the district. Â