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Deadline Looms for Unregistered, Unaffiliated New York Voters


de Blasio voting zoom out

Bill de Blasio voting (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


New York State is home to roughly 2 million people who are eligible to vote but are not registered. The number is a rough estimate using numbers from the state Board of Elections and the American Community Survey. The November 8 general elections, including for President and a variety of state and local elected offices, are just under a month away. This Friday, October 14, is the deadline for New Yorkers to register to vote and many efforts are being made to encourage people to register so they are eligible to cast a ballot in November.

According to an American Community Survey one-year estimate for 2015, New York has about 13.7 million people who are eligible to vote, out of a total state population of 19.7 million. Of those, 11.7 million people were registered to vote as of April 1, per BOE records; leaving about 2 million unregistered eligible voters. New York City represents about 40 percent of the state’s population, and may be hope to about the same percentage of unregistered voters -- if so, it would mean there are 800,000 unregistered eligible voters in the city.

It is not clear at this point how many New Yorkers have registered ahead of the deadline, though the number could be substantial. Registering to vote does not ensure casting a ballot, of course, and New York often ranks toward the bottom nationally in voter turnout. This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a voter registration effort that pairs with food trucks around the city.

Friday is not only the deadline to vote this November, but it is also the deadline for New York City voters to declare or change their party registration in order to vote in the 2017 city primaries, including for Mayor. Aside from the unregistered, there are also about 700,000 registered voters in New York City without a party affiliation. (There is another deadline next year for new voters to register to vote in the 2017 city elections.)

Of the 11.7 million registered voters in New York State, about 10.7 million were “active” registered voters, while another 998,094 were “inactive” voters. Inactive voters are those who fail to respond to notices from the Board of Elections to confirm their residence. Following that, if they do not vote in two consecutive federal elections, they are purged from the voter rolls in the fifth year. For instance, a voter who did not respond to a residence confirmation notice, and then did not vote in the 2012 presidential or the 2014 midterm elections, would be dropped from the rolls in 2015. They must re-register to cast their votes.

The 2016 presidential election has been the first in decades where New York has been a prominent, if not competitive, battleground. Republican nominee Donald Trump is a native New Yorker and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton considers the state her adopted home, serving as a U.S. Senator for New York. In the party primaries, Clinton faced a tough challenge in the state from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The final debate of the Democratic race even took place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City.

While Trump and his supporters had initially indicated they planned to make New York competitive in the general election, polls have shown that to not be a likelihood and the GOP has not concentrated efforts in the state, which has been a long-time Democratic lock. Both of New York’s Senators are Democrats, one of whom, Charles Schumer is up for re-election this year and is facing a challenge from Republican Wendy Long.

New York has consistently ranked low on voter turnout for decades. In the April 19 presidential primary elections, only about 19.7 percent of eligible voters showed up at the polls, with 27 percent of the electorate on the sidelines because they are registered to vote but not with one of the two major parties. In the 2012 general election, New York had a turnout of 53.6 percent, down 8.9 points from 2008. However, in a presidential election cycle, voter registration and turnout tend to be higher than in other years.

“People in New York turn out in higher numbers in the presidential election when one could argue that the impact of your vote is greater for a local election,” said Steve Romalewski, director of the CUNY Graduate Center's Mapping Service, which analyzes voting trends and maps them. “It’s kind of an odd irony there.”

Over the last year, the city has been attempting to increase voter registration through election guides and voter education initiatives. On Tuesday, the city held a voter registration drive, in partnership with street food vendors at 12 locations across the five boroughs, promoted on Twitter with the hashtag #NoshTheVote and through other channels.

New York residents can also register to vote online through the Department of Motor Vehicles if eligible. The City now provides registration forms in 16 different languages -- English, Bengali, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Haitian Creole, French, Russian, Urdu, Polish, Greek, Italian, Tagalog, Albanian, and Yiddish.

Romalewski said every voter needs to register, considering the stakes of the current election. “Given the uncertainty and unexpected turns and twists this election has taken,” he said, “it’s especially true that every vote will matter and New York will be important in this election.”

Jerry Skurnik of Prime NY, a consultancy known for its voter files, points out that the state is not likely to play a prominent role in the presidential race given its usual shade in the Electoral College map. New York is largely a blue state, with twice as many Democratic voters enrolled as Republican voters. As of April 1, there were 5.26 million active Democratic voters, compared to 2.55 million active registered Republicans. Another 2.25 million are unaffiliated with any political party.

In New York City, the difference in enrollment is much more stark. About 2.75 million active registered Democrats live in the five boroughs compared to only 414,478 active Republican voters and 694,420 active unaffiliated voters. These nearly 700,000 registered New York City voters have until Friday to choose a major party if they want to be able to vote in that party’s September 2017 primary. Mayor de Blasio, a Democrat, is planning to run for re-election. It is not yet clear what the rest of the Democratic field or what the Republican primary field will look like.

As for the upcoming November Presidential election, Skurnik downplays New York’s significance in the outcome. “I don’t think it’s going to be important at all,” Skurnik said.“1976 is the last time that New York was really important in a presidential election.” Polling data indicates that this will hold true. As of Tuesday, a RealClearPolitics average had Clinton up by 20 points in New York.

Nevertheless, Skurnik said it was necessary that New Yorkers register and increase their participation in elections. “It’s not just in New York, it’s a national trend,” he said of lower registration numbers and the lack of turnout for elections at all levels, including municipal and state elections. “But it’s a bit worse in New York than in the rest of the country.”

Unlike several other states, New York holds closed party primaries so voters can only cast their ballot for a candidate if they’re registered along party lines. The 2.25 million unaffiliated voters across the state cannot vote in party primaries. The closed system and the far in advance party enrollment deadline were strongly criticized around and after the presidential primary elections in April, particularly by Bernie Sanders supporters. State and local legislators and voting reform advocates have long called for the state to establish open primaries, allowing increased voter participation and less confusion at the polls.

New Yorkers can check their voter registration status via the Board of Elections here.

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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
     

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Note: this article has been updated.

A Big Bet on 'Revitalizing Downtown'


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Officials announce the Far Rockaway plan (photo: @DRichards13)


With individuals constantly moving in and out of the state, New York’s population remains one of the most dynamic in the country. This fluidity changes the makeup of communities and the character of neighborhoods - lately, more people are leaving New York than coming, even leading the state to lose clout in Congress. Often related to economic forces, especially job opportunity, New York has seen a number of its once-bustling cities, towns, and communities economically devastated in recent years.

City and state governments consistently grapple with these changes in economics, demographics, and vitality. Policymakers sometimes decide to invest in stimulating a local economy, by luring a company to move in, offering an existing company incentives to stay, or by other means. “Downtown revitalization” has become a popular term in both New York City and at the state level. As part of his Downtown Revitalization Initiative, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration recently allocated a series of grants based to local communities selected by the state’s Regional Economic Development Councils.

In a statement about the development grants, Cuomo explained the initiative: “A thriving downtown can provide a tremendous boost to the local economy. This initiative will transform selected downtown neighborhoods into vibrant places for people to live, work and raise a family.” Under this initiative, the Cuomo administration awarded 10 communities, nine in Upstate and one in the city, $10 million each.  

These grants are different from, though in the same vein as, the massive state economic development programs that recently came under intense criticism due to federal criminal charges that were brought against nine individuals involved.

Through downtown revitalization projects, whether city or state, public tax dollars are allocated toward improving infrastructure, creating amenities like park space, and constructing new mixed-use buildings to make an area more attractive for incoming residents and businesses. While the state awarded most grants to downtrodden communities outside New York City and much of the city is bustling with commerce and jobs, there are spots where neighborhood economic development and commercial activity lag -- and in Jamaica, Queens, at least one “downtown,” the city is infusing significant revitalization funding.

An active governmental role in stimulating a local economy is not a new phenomenon, especially in New York City. Since the beginning of the 20th century, all five boroughs have undergone major revitalization projects. New Yorkers have seen significant infrastructural changes in places like Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and East Harlem.

When the government invests large sums of public dollars into redeveloping neighborhoods, tensions often arise between officials and the residents of the communities. To give residents a voice, government agencies and officials hold public information sessions and zoning hearings to explain revitalization plans and listen to concerns. The extent of the tension usually relates to how much community engagement is done in forming plans in the first place.

Unsurprisingly, most residents welcome changes that would bring more jobs, improved transportation, and more facilities for families and youth. However, when the plan involves building new housing units, residents often become concerned with issues of affordability, high density, and the aesthetics of new, tall buildings.

In his February State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised $91 million to revitalize Downtown Far Rockaway in Queens. In August, the city announced a “Roadmap for Action, an expansive, interagency plan to re-establish Downtown Far Rockaway as the commercial hub of the Rockaway peninsula.”

In his address, de Blasio explained some of what the revitalization would entail: “We’ll help businesses in commercial corridors like Beach 20th Street. Parents will be able to attend job training workshops while their kids play a pickup game at the greatly improved Sorrentino Recreation Center. And the whole community will enjoy the new, state-of-the-art Downtown Far Rockaway Library.”

It is largely welcome news for a community that has been seeking similar city assistance for nearly half of a century. The interagency effort, led by the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and City Council Member Donovan Richards, to spur economic development and guarantee permanent affordable housing on the peninsula has been met with mostly positive feedback. Yet, some residents fear the uncertain effects of these major developmental changes, especially when it comes to new housing, created at least in part by government.

For over 30 years, a shopping center at the intersection of Mott and Central Avenues in Downtown Far Rockaway sat nearly vacant. When a Dunkin’ Donuts opened there last summer, it became one of just three stores opened over decades in 30 possible storefronts. Now, a year later, the community will undergo substantial change after the EDC, the City Planning Commission, the Department of Housing and Preservation, other agencies, and state and local public officials promised to spur economic development in the area following de Blasio’s decision to invest there.

Council Member Richards, who represents Far Rockaway in Council District 31 and chairs the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, spearheaded efforts to acquire funding from the city for the project.

In a press release announcing the project, Richards said, “Disinvestment, lack of open space, lack of local employment options, lack of infrastructure, and poor pedestrian circulation, created not only a recipe for disaster, but hopelessness in this community.”

He added, “But today, we begin the steps in righting these wrongs by paying our moral and

economic debt owed to this community. The bounced checks of promises written out to this community in the past are long gone. The historic $91 million investment that the de Blasio administration has made will go a long way in providing economic justice to this community.”

Richards, a City Council member since March 2013, said the project will focus on making Far Rockaway a commercial hub again, especially making it easier to travel to and within the neighborhood.

“Right now, when you get off the A train, it feels like you’re not even in the country,” he said in an interview with Gotham Gazette, referencing the baron nature of the downtown area so desperately in need of new life. “You feel like you’re in a third-world country.”

The mayor first spoke about Far Rockaway’s potential in his 2015 State of the City address. Then, in part as a response to a February 2016 letter of recommendations written by Richards and the Downtown Far Rockaway Working Group, a task force made up of local businesses and stakeholders created in November of last year, the mayor outlined his plan to invest in the community in his 2016 State of the City address.

Richards said he met with residents who asked for improved access to transportation services, new youth and family facilities and more job opportunities. According to Richards, community participation has been vital in getting the mayor’s attention.

“Government sometimes is top-down heavy,” Richards said. “Any projects that come into my district, I don’t care how small it is, I always want the community to be aware of what’s going on.”

The letter from the group to de Blasio, written on stationery from Richards’ office, begins with: “GOAL 1: Re-establish Downtown Far Rockaway as the commercial and transportation hub of the Rockaway peninsula,” and follows with several other goals, each with a set of specific recommendations -- many of which were adopted by the City.

Under that first goal, the Downtown Far Rockaway Working Group’s recommendations point to the specifics of “downtown revitalization”: “Redevelop the shopping center site at the heart of Downtown with mixed-income housing, commercial and community facility space,” one reads.

“Reinvigorate Mott Avenue, Central Avenue, Beach 20th Street, and Cornaga Avenue by attracting more diverse retail offerings with a balance of local, regional, and national businesses and restaurants that foster a walkable environment” is number two, “Create destinations to draw residents as well as visitors, including family and youth recreation and entertainment” is three, and “Highlight Downtown’s unique character and history, including as a music and entertainment destination, by fostering a “Main Street” feeling in Downtown with storefront improvements, traffic calming, lighting, and free wifi,” is four. These are followed by a recommendation to push the state-run MTA for increased A-train service and other transportation improvements.

Although the city’s “Roadmap to Action” plan, which outlines the major goals of the project, elicited a positive response from residents, some remain hesitant about parts of the project, especially the housing element.

As reported by City Limits, a Far Rockaway law firm, specializing in eminent domain law, sent notices to a number of residents detailing the city’s plan to acquire their properties. When this was addressed by many upset residents at a scoping hearing in September, the City explained that the potential urban renewal area is still being studied. If approved, the city said, it would affect about a dozen property owners. While the law firm made a mistake by sending these notices to many residents whose properties would not be affected, it left lasting concerns for residents about the city’s proposal. The possibility is still in the planning phases.

As with other rezonings the de Blasio administration is moving forward, there are concerns about levels of affordability in housing, gentrification, and whether new development will be out of scale with the current, mostly low-rise residential community.

Jonathan Gaska, in his 28th year as district manager of Community Board 14 in Queens which includes Far Rockaway, said a lot of residents worry that new 10- to 15-story residential units would take away from the character of Downtown Far Rockaway.

“The fear is they’re going to build it like Long Island City,” Gaska said. “Not that Long Island City is a bad place, but it’s all big buildings. It’s more Manhattan. And I don’t think this community wants to be Manhattan.”

Gaska said after Hurricane Sandy left Rockaway in wreckage, the city finally paid attention to the citizens’ grievances of the past five decades. When asked why it took so long for government to step in, Gaska said he thinks officials never saw it as a neighborhood worth investing millions of dollars to improve until Council Member Richards, who Gaska said has a “good working relationship with the mayor,” became its champion.

“Rockaway has been the Siberia of New York City government,” Gaska said. “Whenever the city had a problem, and to this day, really, they send it to Rockaway. I think that they just didn’t see this as place that could ever improve.”

The plan in Far Rockaway would implement the mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program (MIH), approved by the City Council in March, which requires new construction to include permanently affordable housing. In exchange for the ability to build more units, developers must maintain affordable housing for a certain percentage of units at specific affordability rates (rental caps based on income levels and family sizes). The numbers vary based on which combination of units and incomes the local City Council member selects.

Richards said he understands one of the biggest challenges about this rezoning and downtown development project remains preserving the character of the community while infusing a large amount of government resources into the area. But current zoning, according to Richards, is not working to spur growth.

“We understand that the zoning we have now has not activated the public realm,” he said. “It has not activated better commercial and better amenities for Far Rockaway.”

However, Richards added: “We want to ensure that whatever the residential homes are, we want to keep the scale low,” Richards said. “We don’t want to have towers towering over our two areas. Even as we develop, we want responsible development.”

Governor Cuomo is also in on the revitalization efforts in Queens. Cuomo’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative awarded one of its ten $10 million grants to Downtown Jamaica, in Queens.

As he awarded Jamaica the investment, Cuomo said in his August announcement, “Queens has all sorts of assets, but Queens needs a partner. You can have all the assets but you need that start-up capital to make those assets really come together.”

Cuomo’s Regional Council’s chose where to provide these assets by looking at neighborhoods both in need and with the potential to develop. Queens has now seen investment from the city and state in Far Rockaway and Jamaica as both Astoria and Long Island City have become bustling residential and commercial hubs. However, as new housing and businesses come on the market, concerns have been raised about long-time residents and businesses being pushed out by increased rent prices.

Mark Winston-Griffith, executive director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, a multi-issue community organizing group focused on issues related to rapid neighborhood change and gentrification, said despite the city’s possible good intentions behind economic development projects, current residents lose some control over their neighborhood during the revitalization process.

“Once you raise property values,” he said. “At the point you make it easier for people to not only get there, but to stay, then you inevitably make it more difficult for the people who are there now to remain.”

According to a report on the state of housing in New York City written by New York University’s Furman Center, newly developed housing units in gentrifying neighborhoods become younger, more educated and more likely to be labeled as a non-family household (as in, occupied by single people). The study found that in 2015, only incomes of those in gentrifying neighborhoods increased.

The Furman Center study found the “share of the population that identified as black also declined in gentrifying neighborhoods between 1990 and 2010 (37.9 percent to 30.9 percent), but the share of population that identified as white increased (18.8 percent to 20.6 percent).”

Winston-Griffith said there continues to be a legitimate fight for the right of low-income black New Yorkers to continue to live and thrive in the neighborhoods where they have lived for years. It is an issue that Council Member RIchards has raised and focused on when his committee was considering - and tweaking - the mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.

“There’s always that tension that comes with development, particularly in New York City,” Winston-Griffith said. “In this moment, when residential and commercial prices seem to know no limit, we see entire neighborhoods being transformed in front of our eyes.”

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by Devin Gannon for Gotham Gazette

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Inside the City’s Personnel Growth and Agency Hiring Practices


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Mayor de Blasio (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayor's Office)


There were 313,092 full-time and full-time equivalent positions employed by the City of New York as of June 30, the final day of last fiscal year, according to headcount data provided by the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). According to forecasted staffing levels in the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2017, released by OMB on June 14, the City plans to add another 10,108 full-time and full-time equivalent (FTE) positions by the end of the current fiscal year, to bring the total number of city government employees to 323,200 by July 1, 2017.

According to the FY2017 Adopted Budget, there are 12 city agencies each forecasted and budgeted to add over 300 full-time and FTE positions by next summer.

Those agencies are, in order of budgeted additional hires: the NYPD (civilian staff only); the Department of Social Services; the Administration for Children’s Services; the Department of Corrections; the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; City University of New York; the Department of Environmental Protection; the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications; The Department of Education (pedagogical staff only); the Department of Sanitation; the Department of Citywide Administrative Services; and the Department of Buildings.

NYC govt headcount growth forecast FY17 Fowler

This increase comes on the heels of unprecedented growth in city government headcount through the first two-and-a-half years of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s term. De Blasio has enjoyed robust city revenues and private sector job growth, allowing him to increase city spending, including on hiring of government personnel.

While the city has also been able to increase savings to record levels, de Blasio has received some criticism for the increases in city spending and headcount. Still, he is forging ahead with additions at a variety of city agencies. What is not always clear to the public, though, is what positions are being added and why; what happens when agencies are not able to fill the positions they are budgeted for; and why increases in certain types of personnel are not accompanied by decreases in others.

Under de Blasio, the two most high-profile broad personnel increases have been the addition of hundreds of new pre-kindergarten teachers and the addition of about 1,300 new police officers, staffing the expansion of de Blasio’s universal pre-K program and his neighborhood policing model, respectively.

“This administration has proven that you can be both responsible and progressive,” said Freddie Goldstein, a mayoral spokesperson for budget matters. “Our increased headcount helps us move forward the initiatives that make a real difference in the lives of New Yorkers - Pre-K For All, Vision Zero, more police officers keeping people safe. We’ve budgeted for these new hires and have done so while increasing our reserves to historic levels,” said Goldstein.

NYC govt headcount growth over time Fowler

Budgeting and Hiring Processes
The adopted budget, released after a new budget agreement between the Mayor’s Office and the City Council, is the last step in the process starting with the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget and including the Mayor’s Executive Budget, two rounds of City Council hearings, public lobbying, and behind-the-scenes negotiations. In part, the adopted budget indicates how OMB will allocate funding to different city departments, much of which is dedicated to agency personnel, including new employees each agency is expected to hire.

Providing a clear snapshot of the positions currently in the process of being filled requires information from city agency representatives, departmental website job portals, and other databases. While forecasted headcount is relatively easy to find on the OMB website, Gotham Gazette needed to request the end-of-fiscal-year actual headcount data from FY13 through FY16 and more information regarding the types of positions being filled. The actual headcount data from 2013 was provided by the Citizen Budget Commission (CBC), a nonpartisan nonprofit budget watchdog group.

While the city is now several months into the new fiscal year, executive budget hearing reports from the Spring, while dated, also offer important insight into each department’s intentions when it comes to hiring.

Agencies do not necessarily hire people for as many positions as the city has allocated funding, nor is there a maximum headcount departments may not surpass, though agencies must get permission from OMB for additional spending and often must explain why they do not hire for all the positions they have been budgeted for if that is the case.

The Department of Social Services (DoSS) was forecasted to add 805 positions in FY16. Instead, DoSS actually decreased its headcount by 289 full-time and full-time equivalent positions over the course of the fiscal period. And like with other agencies that did not meet last year’s forecast, DoSS is again forecasted to add many new hires in FY17, in its case for 1,616 positions.

Two questions that often faces agencies, OMB, and the Mayor’s Office is why an agency may not be able to reach its targeted hiring and whether money should be reallocated in the following budget for unfilled positions. The answers to these questions are determined in budgetary meetings between OMB teams and representatives from individual agencies throughout the year as headcounts real and forecasted are in flux.

“As programs move forward, agencies revise up and down how much staff is needed based on how best to achieve its goals as effectively and efficiently as possible,” said Goldstein, de Blasio’s budget spokesperson. “If an agency continues to need the positions to provide the services/programs, the headcount will still be available to them in the next fiscal year.”

There can be a variety of reasons why an agency does not meet its forecasted headcount, including difficulty competing with private sector employers for highly skilled applicants or finding it can do its work with fewer employees than initially expected. There are also logistical hurdles in hiring and not every agency has a well-oiled hiring process. Filling a large number of positions can be time-consuming for those most involved in hiring. It can also take time for higher-ups to approve certain hires.

While it’s more common to hire fewer employees than budgeted, in some circumstances agencies have expanded their headcount past the yearly budgeted amounts. When agencies exceed their forecasted headcount the circumstances often have to do with new city policies, as presented by the Mayor or the Mayor and the City Council, that involve hiring new employees.

There are several city departments involved in different phases of the hiring process beyond each agency’s internal process. While OMB has authority over allocation of the budgeted headcount, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) has actual oversight of hiring processes, and internal human resources offices handle the execution of each agency’s hiring protocols.

DCAS is responsible for administering the civil service system, which largely pertains to uniformed city employees like police officers, firefighters, corrections officers, and paramedics, and includes plumbers, electricians, and many other positions. Someone hoping to be hired in one of these positions must pass a civil service exam to be placed, in order of exam score, on the Civil Service List. The human resources department at each agency then hires from that list for the positions it covers, which often excludes top positions at each agency.

There are several exceptions to this system. For instance, the Mayor’s Office has its own independent hiring process for the hundreds of positions that fall under its purview. This is another area where de Blasio has greatly increased headcount.

Commissioner appointments are overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Appointments and made by the Mayor, oftentimes in consultation with the relevant Deputy Mayor. Other top departmental positions -- like Chief of Staff, Deputy Commissioner, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, etc. -- require agencies to receive various levels of approval depending on the situation.

The Office of Appointments also works with the Department of Investigation, City Council, and the NYPD to vet potential higher-level managerial candidates.

Individual Agency Expansions
While the NYPD is continuing to add police officers to fill the additional 1,297 uniformed positions that the Mayor previously agreed to in negotiations with the City Council, according to the Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2017, the NYPD is forecasting to add an additional 1,930 civilian staff by next summer. These civilian openings include school safety agents, police communications technicians (911 operators), and traffic enforcement agents, all of which are posted on the NYPD website. The NYPD press office said there are currently 1,627 open positions and that the department expects to fill all of them.

The NYPD currently employs 35,990 uniformed officers, according to the department, while it seeks an average uniformed headcount of approximately 36,300 officers. According to OMB data, the NYPD’s uniformed headcount grew by 1,372 police officers in the previous fiscal year to reach its current number. The police academy is training four classes of officers throughout the fiscal year, according to the department, though the adopted budget only funds 35,780 of those positions -- 210 fewer officers than the department already employs.

According to the NYPD’s Executive Budget Hearing Report, the additional school safety agents will be sent as “meal relief” to schools with only one safety agent; the 911 operators will be staffing the newly opened Public Safety Answering Center II in the Bronx; and the traffic enforcement agents will be primarily dispatched in Manhattan to enforce the “Block the Box” initiative, aimed at enforcing the prohibition on vehicle operators obstructing traffic at an intersection.

The Department of Education (DOE), which has traditionally had the largest headcount in the city and has sustained the most significant growth in headcount of any city agency under de Blasio, is continuing to add to pedagogical staff while also being budgeted to lose civilian headcount.

The DOE is forecasted to add a total of 9,276 full-time and FTE positions (pedagogical and other) by the end of de Blasio’s term -- more than any other city agency. The department has already added 7,343 of those positions in the first two-and-a-half years under de Blasio. As of October 4, there were 120 open non-pedagogical positions listed on the DOE website. Pedagogical positions are not publicly listed on the department website. In order to view pedagogical listings, qualified applicants must file a general application to work in the DOE school system before being granted access to the teachers jobs portal.

A large portion of the DOE’s initial headcount growth under de Blasio is attributable to the mayor’s universal pre-kindergarten initiative, for which the department is continuing to fill positions, even those beyond classroom posts, like the Director of Special Projects that will “oversee the implementation of the Pre-K component of ThriveNYC, a citywide, mayoral initiative to support the mental health of New Yorkers,” according to the job description posted online.

According to the DOE’s Executive Budget Hearing Report from May 16, 2016, a good portion of the budgeted headcount growth for the current fiscal year is in response to rising need around special education students and properly serving those students in district schools.

In addition to hiring teachers trained in special education, the DOE is filling positions like “Special Education Operations Manager, Charter Partnerships” and “Director of Data Management - Special Education” -- both highly technical roles that will aid the department in providing the necessary tools and expertise needed for students with individualized education plans. Skilled data analysts are in high demand both in and out of government - this is one type of position where it can be more difficult for government agencies to attract qualified applicants.

The DOE declined to respond to a request from Gotham Gazette seeking information explaining the agency’s protocols and infrastructure for filling open positions and actual headcount data.

Currently, the Department of Sanitation has approximately 200 civilian vacancies, according to Vito Turso, a spokesperson for the department. According to the FY17 adopted budget, Sanitation is set to add a total 393 civilian and uniformed positions by next summer. As of October 4, there are 32 Sanitation civilian openings accepting applications via the citywide jobs portal. Civilian positions are first approved by OMB and then approved by the department’s internal human resources office. Within the department, the areas with the largest number of civilian vacancies are in the program areas of technology, building maintenance, motor equipment, and enforcement, according to Turso.

Uniformed sanitation worker positions are filled through the civil service list. While the FY17 adopted budget forecasts only 25 additional uniformed positions, Turso said the department is in fact expecting to hire over 350 sanitation workers by June 2017.

The Department of Buildings (DOB) is expanding its headcount as well. According to department spokesperson Joseph Soldevere, DOB’s hiring target for FY17 is 257 positions, including 57 for inspections, 79 technical positions, and 121 administrative or other staffers. The city has allocated funds for an additional 181 positions, according to the FY17 adopted budget, but the department has set their own goal of hiring 257 employees, as stated by Soldevere.

“The [DOB’s] staffing is up 31% over the last four years, and up 18% over the prior year,” said Soldevere, crediting “an expanded advertising push for job opportunities, numerous interview days for new graduates and industry professionals, and increasing our recruitment targets,” for the headcount growth. This increase comes as New York City is experiencing a historic construction boom, which as Soldevere pointed out, makes it difficult to hire construction professionals for public service positions. DOB is largely responsible for permitting construction and for building inspections.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) is also expanding its civilian and uniformed headcount in the current fiscal year. According to actual headcount data provided by OMB, DOC had 11,508 employees at the end of June. Based on the FY17 adopted budget, DOC expects to add another 1,060 positions by the end of FY17.

“DOC is striving to fill all budgeted positions as quickly as possible,” said DOC spokesperson Eve Kessler, by email. “No particular positions are expected to go unfilled, however there is a possibility that some may not be filled by the end of the fiscal year.”

According to DOC’s Executive Budget Hearing Report, several new uniformed and civilian staff will be allocated to the central visiting center on Rikers Island -- where there was a rise in inmate-on-inmate violence over the last year -- in order to better keep drugs and weapons out of inmate possession.

At many smaller agencies and offices, headcount has drastically increased in proportion to the number of department employees before de Blasio took office. One such agency is the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), which is forecasted to double in size by the time de Blasio’s current term is over -- increasing from 61 positions in 2013, to 123 by the end of FY17. Internally, the department has two human resources staffers and they use the citywide jobs portal to fill openings, according to CCHR spokesperson Seth Hoy.

“The rapid expansion of the NYC Commission on Human Rights over the last two years is reflective of Mayor de Blasio’s mission to ensure a viable and effective venue for all New Yorkers to report discrimination and get justice, regardless of who they are, where they came from or who they love,” said Hoy.

According to Hoy, CCHR is adding 12 positions in the current fiscal year including four community relations positions, five administrative staffers and three legal openings. One is for “testers,” who, according to the job description, are “sent to apply for specific jobs with specific companies and report back about their experiences...If a white tester was called for job interview, but an equally qualified African-American tester was not, it may show evidence of discrimination.”

***
by William Fowler for Gotham Gazette

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