MEETING SUMMARY:
The City Council appointed chairs and members for its committees today. It also re-appointed the chair and one member of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city agency that oversees historic preservation in New York.
The New York City Council took shape on January 18th with the naming of more than 40 committee heads -- the "chairs" of council standing committee and sub-committees. Council Speaker Christine Quinn praised her appointments. "We've increased the number of women in leadership and heading committees from 13 in our last council to 15," she said. "We've named 21 council members of color chair of committees, including three committees that the Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus identified as most critical -- Education, Health and Housing. And we've named a Republican leader to head a council committee, the task force on buildings."
Some key committee heads remain the same. But several new chairs were appointed. New Councilmember Inez Dickens takes over as the chair of the Standards and Ethics Committee and becomes the Majority Whip, earning an $11,000 stipend. Jessica Lappin will head the Land Use Sub-Committee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime. Daniel Garodnick will also chair a Land Use Sub-Committee on Planning Dispositions and Concessions. And Rosie Mendez will lead the Sub-Committee on Public Housing.
The important post of chair of the Education Committee went, as predicted, to Robert Jackson, who was one of the original plaintiffs in the Council for Fiscal Equity suit against the state for underfunding the city's public schools. Bronx Councilmember Joel Rivera, whose early support helped garner Quinn her Speaker position, is Majority Leader, chair of the Health Committee, and recipient of a $23,000 stipend, second only to Quinn's $28,500 bonus. The new chair of Housing and Buildings will be Erik Martin Dilan, a move that helps Vito Lopez of Brooklyn solidify himself as an unofficial housing czar.
Leroy Comrie Jr., who had been up for speaker before Quinn got the job, received a bump up to Deputy Majority Leader and chair of Consumer Affairs with a $20,000 stipend. Reyna replaced him as head of Rules, Privileges and Elections. Alan Gerson will chair a new committee for Lower Manhattan Redevelopment.
The City Council also unanimously approved the mayor's re-appointment of two members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city agency that identifies, designates and regulates historic districts and landmarks in the five boroughs. Robert Tierney was re-appointed chair, a full-time position that draws a salary of over $150,000. Elizabeth Ryan was re-appointed as one of the 10 commissioners, who don't get a salary for their part-time work.
Though all went smoothly before the full City Council, some preservation activists delivered strong testimony against Tierney at a committee hearing earlier in the day. "This is not an open process," screamed Michael Henry Adams, historian and author of "Harlem Lost and Found" "It's going to be the same as it's always been," he yelled at top voice from the back of the hearing room. "It's going to be the same as it's always been!" he shouted again as he was forcibly removed from the room.
Other preservationists were less disruptive but equally upset at Tierney's tenure. One activist called Tierney's appointment "pre-ordained" Another, Olive Freud of the Committee For Environmentally Sound Development, said, "Mr. Tierney has been such a disappointment. It almost makes us want to cry." A few preservationists testified in support of Tierney, and Councilmember Simcha Felder, former chair of a the Land Use Sub-Committee on Landmarks, called Tierney's position a "thankless job." Said Felder, "Advocates, no matter what the commission does, it'll never be enough [for them]."
Council members were mostly in support of re-appointing Tierney but also pointed to some improvements they'd like to see: a more transparent and faster process for landmark or historic district designation, more recognition and preservation of the rich history of outer boroughs, better staffing and funding for the commission, and more discussion of how to ease the increased financial burden for shop owners and low-income residents of historic districts or buildings.
No bills were introduced at the stated meeting. Council members observed a moment of silence to mark the death of Councilmember Hiram Monserrate's sister after her long battle with cancer. The meeting adjourned with a remembrance of the three children who died in a Coney Island fire last week and of 7-year old Nixmary Brown, allegedly beaten, tortured and killed in her home by her stepfather.
In the wake of Nixmary's death, a scheduled meeting on Jan. 31 of the General Welfare Committee to discuss New York City's Administration for Children's Services could be heated.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is slated to give his State of the City address on January 26, and the city budget should be released shortly afterward. The next City Council stated meeting will be on Wednesday, February 1.
Link to committee chairs and memberships
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As a nurse, Kathleen Sucich was used to helping people, and now that she is retired, she continues to do so -- by assisting some of the other 800,000 New Yorkers over the age of 65 to become more comfortable with the Internet. In some ways, it is just in time. While in the past, it might have been accepted as a fact of life that older people are far less likely than the population as a whole to use computers, this month in particular the need to bring seniors online has become a matter of urgency.
Since January 1, New Yorkers 65 years of age or older have been able to choose to receive new Medicare prescription drug coverage. But the program is deeply confusing--New York State offers 46 different plans provided through 21 companies. The best way to make sense of it, to sort it all out, is to use the Internet.
The “digital divide” between affluent and poor populations is a well-documented phenomenon. Less discussed is a digital divide based not on income or education, but on age. In 2004, the Pew Internet And American Life project found that only 22 percent of Americans 65 and older are online. This is in stark contrast to the broader adult population; a 2005 Harris poll estimates that almost 75 percent of American adults now go online.
"Many of the most serious challenges of aging -- limited mobility, isolation, reduced income, and the need for health care information and assistance -- are well suited to technology-based solutions," declares the Web site of a New York City non-profit called Older Adults Technology Services, or OATS. "Yet seniors are often excluded from these opportunities due to lack of access to technology and training."
OATS is one of the organizations that aim to provide this training, with the goal of "enhancing the social and civic engagement of older adults."
City agencies and members of the non-profit community are both striving to increase the rate of connectivity among city seniors. New York City's Department for the Aging has provided training for seniors in how to use computers and search the Internet since 1998. The department has allocated almost $13 million over the past four years to purchase computers, train staff in their use, and develop senior-friendly computer programs. There is computer access in more than 40 percent of the 300 senior centers that the department manages. A recent grant from IBM has equipped many centers with software designed for seniors, including Spanish-language software in selected locations.
Several city senior centers also participate in SeniorNet, a national organization that educates seniors about new technologies and also is host of active online discussion forums, which help to lessen the social isolation. "I'm a widow looking for social activities in my area," Ginger wrote recently on one of these message boards. "I play bridge, tennis, like to dance and am new to computers. My son has helped me sign up."
Although the Department for the Aging has engaged in increasing connectivity among seniors, it of course has a much broader mandate than this. But Older Adults Technology Services, founded in 2004, is the first citywide organization "dedicated to addressing the serious gap in technology services for seniors in New York City"
OATS has developed a 10-week senior-friendly course that initially focuses on seemingly rudimentary topics such as how to use a mouse and keyboard. (One concern about the Department for the Aging’s training programs is that they often assume a level of computer literacy that many seniors do not possess). The workbooks are in large type, and computer screens are configured for easy reading.
Once senior students have this foundation, the course provides an introduction to a wide variety of topics, such as how to use Microsoft Word, how to search Amazon, and how to send e-mail. “Google quizzes,” in which seniors search Google to answer obscure trivia questions, are a highlight of the course.One session focuses on how to conduct medical research online.
The agency is also piloting an intergenerational training program, in which teenagers mentor seniors about how to use a computer. According to lead trainer Anthony Accurso, teenagers are empowered by this opportunity to take a leadership role. Because teenagers have a natural affinity for new technologies, this is an innovative way to increase the comfort level of those seniors who are initially reluctant to learn about computers.
It was at Older Adults Technology Services that Kathleen Sucich, now 69, received the training that helped her "not to be so intimidated by the computer", and to become more politically aware as well, thanks to online resources. She feels that there is still much more to learn. But now, when she has difficulty, she knows where to turn.
Marcus Banks is a librarian at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer CenterÂ