Public Advocate James at a rally at City Hall (photo: @JaviLacayo)

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James will file a brief today with the New York State Supreme Court seeking expedited appeal hearings against the denied petitions to release grand jury transcripts and evidence in the Eric Garner case.

After a Staten Island grand jury decided in December not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the July chokehold death of Eric Garner, a request for disclosure of the transcripts and evidence presented to the grand jury was brought before the court by Public Advocate James, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and The New York Post.

But on March 19, State Supreme Court Judge William Garnett refused to unseal the evidence saying in his opinion that the petitioners had failed to show a "compelling or particularized need" for the evidence. James had then vowed to appeal the decision.

Today, James will file a motion to expedite the appeal, which itself will be filed sometime this week. "Without [the motion to expedite] it'll likely take a year for it to be heard," she said in a phone interview this morning. "A decision in about a year is unacceptable."

The motion's justification is simple. A speedy appeal is necessary since the case implicates a "pressing and time-sensitive matter of deep public concern," the motion states. It also says the appeal will have direct bearing on legislation and policy reform that is currently being considered.

"There's a crisis of confidence in our criminal justice system," said James. "But we're undaunted in our quest for justice. The secrecy of the grand jury process is not sacrosanct. This is bigger than the Garner case, bigger than one borough, bigger than one individual. it's about restoring confidence in our criminal justice system."

Grand jury evidence is protected by state law, and New York has strict laws about concealing most information from grand jury proceedings. After the Eric Garner case decision, there was widespread outrage against what people saw as a failure of a broken system, sparking weeks of protests in the streets. The release of evidence would bring more transparency to the system, James said. "The public has a right to know."

Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who presided over the Pantaleo grand jury and is now running for Congress, urged the court to deny the petition for disclosure and later called Judge Garnett's decision "well-reasoned."

But James argues that Donovan set the precedent for their appeal. He had originally filed a motion for limited disclosure of the evidence and it was granted. "We're arguing the same law," James said.

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by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Council members unveil Council 2.0 (photo: William Alatriste)

NEW YORK - City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and several council colleagues released today a civic technology plan aimed at making the legislative body more transparent while facilitating direct engagement with constituents.

The "public technology plan," dubbed Council 2.0, is being touted as a new "roadmap to digital inclusion and open government" and has origins as part of the Council's rules reform package enacted in May of 2014. "We want to meet people where they are digitally active and we want to expand the conversation around civic tech so that it reflects the diversity of this city," said Mark-Viverito at a City Hall press conference on Monday.

"The council must grow into a digitally agile institution that can easily adapt to emerging technology while remaining grounded in our communities," she later added.

The Council 2.0 framework will employ social media and mobile communication to engage New Yorkers, crowdsourcing feedback on hearings, programs, and proposals. As part of the project, which will be implemented in phases, a public tech team will analyze open data, redesign the Council's website, use social media, and create easy-to-use interactive digital tools. The Council's legislative database will also be revamped and made more accessible, and reports provided to the Council by city agencies will be publicly displayed in user-friendly formats. It has been widely agreed that the Council website is in need of significant upgrades.

In updating its website and other digital platforms, the Council will also be mindful of accessibility. "We have to recognize that not everyone is a tech guru," said Council Member James Vacca, chair of the Council's technology committee, stressing the need to make civic technology user-friendly. "There's more to come," he promised.

Council Members Vanessa Gibson, Brad Lander, and Ben Kallos were also at the press conference, as were advocates Andrew Rasiej of Civic Hall, Jukay Hsu of Coalition for Queens, and Gene Russianoff of NYPIRG.

"We're the kind of government that's closest to the ground," said Lander of the City Council. "We want to hear what people have to say and we want to make sure that they understand what we're doing, and that's gotta be not just a two-way street but a real fundamental set of bridges."

The Council has partnered with Civic Hall, a new civic tech business, and others for expertise on digital solutions. In the fall, the Council will also launch "Council Labs," a mobile-friendly website to help New Yorkers navigate city government functioning; for instance, visualizing the budget process.

"This is truly what government is about, reaching everyday New Yorkers where they live, work, and raise their families," said Gibson. She called texting "a way of life" that will help with direct engagement at a local level.

In July, to help develop the public tech initiatives further, the Council will host a "Digital Inclusion Summit."

"Government is going mobile first, from a click away to a swipe away," said Ben Kallos, who chairs the Council's governmental operations committee and is himself a software deveoper. "Inclusive government means using every tool at our disposal, now and in the future, to engage New Yorkers where they're at, whether by text or online."

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by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

CM Ritchie Torres at a recent event (photo: William Alatriste)

At a joint hearing of the City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Education on Tuesday, council members will discuss and hear testimony on three bills addressing school safety.

One bill, sponsored by Council Member Ritchie Torres, would require the city Department of Education (DOE) to report the ratio of school safety officers to guidance counselors in each school.

The bill, Torres said, has the support of the Council's Coalition of Young Men of Color, which includes Torres and his colleagues Council Members Antonio Reynoso, Donovan Richards, Rafael Espinal and Carlos Menchaca.

The legislation is an attempt to gauge the "imbalance of resources" in the education system, Torres told Gotham Gazette. "In order to solve the problem, we need to diagnose the problem," he said, indicating concern over there being too many police agents and not enough counselors in the city's schools.

The information gleaned from the DOE will help determine how resources are allocated toward punitive or restorative practices. Torres said he wants to address the "school-to-prison pipeline" created by disciplinary policies where suspensions lead to dropouts; with both leading young people to the criminal justice system. "Our public education system is defeating it's own purpose instead of putting [youth] on a path to a career," he said.

"The people to blame are not the teachers and administrators, but the politicians and bureaucrats who create these policies," Torres said.

Torres does commend Mayor Bill de Blasio for making a genuine effort toward reform. In February, the administration revised the school discipline code and established more careful punishments for certain student behavior, including the new requirement of approval from the Department of Education for student suspensions. "But it's important to match changes in policy with the investment of resources," said Torres. "A key part of the equation is access to restorative resources. It's about reforming the criminal justice system. If ever there was a time for reform, it's now."

A second bill to be discussed on Tuesday, introduced by Council Member David Greenfield, requires the police department to assign school safety agents to public and nonpublic schools that request them. And the third bill, sponsored by Council Member Vanessa Gibson, requires the schools chancellor to submit an annual report to the Council, also made available on the DOE website, on the discipline of students and the referral to emergency medical services for incidents related to disruptive behavior.

For advocates of reform, the package of bills is a move in the right direction. A number of groups including Make the Road New York and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) are expected to testify at the hearing to show their support for both Torres' and Gibson's bills.

"[Council Member Torres' bill] gets at the heart of where schools are allocating resources," said Karen Farkas, senior staff attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services. Farkas deals with issues related to education and counsels students between 16- and 19-years-old.

"It's a knee-jerk reaction in communities and among lawmakers that safety is equated with the presence of safety agents," she said. "But my clients and students of color don't equate that with safety. It detracts from a positive community and school culture. It makes it harder for schools to be schools."

Many of her clients, Farkas said, come from communities that are already over-policed. "Schools should be a place where kids are given the benefit of the doubt, not considered bad or criminal."

Farkas believes Torres' bill could reveal the effects that fewer police agents and more positive counseling would have. She also praised the administration's recent steps for laying the groundwork and initiating discussions on restorative justice practices, whereby instead of being suspended from school, students work to make damaged relationships whole again. But, Farkas insisted that "Unless there's a whole school reform model, and it's done well, little piecemeal measures won't change the whole problem."

Shoshi Chowdhury, coordinator of the Dignity in Schools Campaign, said the bills would help provide more data and transparency, shedding light on school discipline. "The Student Safety Act of 2010 was the first time in New York City history that we started getting data on suspensions. But there was some data missing," she said. The amendments proposed in Gibson's bill are aimed to address these. At the hearing, members of Chowdhury's organization will testify along with students, parents, and educators.

Nick Sheehan, staff attorney at Advocates for Children, shares Chowdhury's view. Torres' bill, he said, would increase transparency "about how the City chooses to allocate its resources."

He went further, saying the bill should also add ratios of social workers and school psychologists to school safety agents, and the ratio of those staff members to students. He also agreed that Gibson's bill would address the limitations in the Student Safety Act. "They're technical tweaks, but they're important," he said.

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by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Speaker Mark-Viverito (photo: Ben Max)

NEW YORK - Lamenting a "simply unsustainable" status quo, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito outlined changes she's pursuing to the city's criminal and civil justice systems in a speech Friday morning at New York Law School.

Attended by about 125 lawyers, law students, community activists, and civic leaders, the breakfast event provided Mark-Viverito an opportunity to reiterate some of the key proposals she and many of her council colleagues believe will create "justice for New York City," as her talk was titled.

"Other cities should take note of what we've done here in New York," Mark-Viverito said, touting work she and her colleagues have done to expand rights and protections for immigrants. Looking forward, she highlighted recently-introduced legislation to create an Office of the Civil Justice Coordinator, which, if created, will be charged with "ensuring adequate legal representation for every New Yorker." "When New York leads, others follow," she said.

The speaker framed her speech by referencing recent police killings of unarmed black men by white police officers in Ferguson, MO; New York City; and North Charelston, South Carolina.

Having spent a large portion of her February State of the City address on the same topic, Mark-Viverito did not offer any new proposals Friday, but spoke about the central tenents of her plan: expanded legal representation for New Yorkers in civil court; increased use of desk tickets and summonses over arrests for smaller infractions; a citywide fund to help those who can't afford bail; and an expanded NYPD headcount in order to enact "true community policing."

There was little dissent evident in the room Friday morning: a fairly lengthy question-and-answer session that followed Mark-Viverito's prepared remarks yielded only two instances of challenges to the speaker's reform agenda. One questioner asked why a city council "right to counsel" bill that has over 30 sponsors and would require a public defender for tenants in housing court who cannot afford an attorney is stalled. Another audience member asked Mark-Viverito how she can justify calling for an expansion of the NYPD force when aggressive broken-windows style policing is the norm.

On the former, Mark-Viverito said that the bill is still under consideration and is not "off the table." The speaker has expressed strong support for expanding funding to provide such legal representation to tenants facing eviction, but she has not moved the bill that would codify the practice. There remain questions over funding and about whether the City actually can legally extend such a right.

On the latter issue of expanding the NYPD, Mark-Viverito said "to demand reform and to demand more resources, [are] not mutually exclusive" and touted City Council efforts to create an inspector general of the NYPD and push other reforms, such as changes to stop-and-frisk practices. "Reform is needed," she added, saying that the NYPD is "not perfect," but that she is encouraged by greater collaboration among the Council, the NYPD, and communities. She added that "effective community policing needs more resources, not less."

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by Ben Max, editor, Gotham Gazette
@tweetBenMax

Sen. Jose Peralta with NYPD officers (photo: @SenatorPeralta)

A video of South Carolina Police Officer Michael Slager fatally shooting Walter Scott as he ran away appears to have relit the debate over criminal justice reform in New York.

The graphic video has reminded many advocates and legislators of the video that brought attention to the death of Eric Garner while he was being arrested by members of the NYPD on Staten Island in July. Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who could be seen in the video placing Garner in a chokehold, was not indicted by a grand jury.

Legislators say they expect reforms proposed earlier this year to be front and center when the Legislature returns from spring vacation later in April. Sen. Jose Peralta, a Democrat from Queens who has championed a number of criminal justice reforms, said that he was struck by how quickly South Carolina officials reacted to the video of the shooting.

"It makes me wonder why it took New York so long to act," Peralta told Gotham Gazette. "The South Carolina system acted immediately - they fired the officer and filed charges. Here it took a while for anyone to do anything. It took outcry. What better case to show the discrepancy between the criminal justice system of a supposedly progressive state like New York and a more conservative state."

Video of Garner's July 17 death circulated widely as many officials resisted passing judgement on whether Garner was murdered. His death was ruled a homicide by the city's medical examiner August 1. On August 19, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan announced a grand jury would hear charges against Pantaleo. The grand jury began hearing evidence September 29 and decided not to charge Pantaleo December 3.

In South Carolina, Slager shot walker on April 4; he was arrested and charged with murder April 7; and he was fired April 8.

After the grand jury decision in the Pantaleo case, protesters took to the streets across the country, especially in New York City, and an anti-police brutality, criminal justice reform movement continued to build in the aftermath of the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown, who was killed in Ferguson, MO.

New York politicians took notice.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo promised a "soup-to-nuts" review of the justice system and met with prominent leaders of the criminal justice reform movement, including Jay-Z and Russell Simmons. Simmons said Cuomo had promised to issue an executive order putting a special prosecutor in charge of cases where police kill unarmed civilians, Cuomo's office insisted the governor had simply promised to push for legislation to that effect. (On April 9, Simmons wrote an open letter to Cuomo expressing frustration over a lack of action.)

In the weeks that followed Cuomo's December promise of a review, hearings were held, some led by Democrats, others by Republicans; bills were proposed, and lines were drawn. And then a sort-of vortex opened up and swallowed the issue: Christmas, then former Gov. Mario Cuomo passed away on January 1 and Cuomo postponed his State of the State Address until later in January; the indictment of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver soon followed and Albany was thrown into chaos. Budget negotiations were on hold, set to heat up when the Assembly replaced Silver with Carl Heastie in February. Some of the proposed criminal justice reforms were included in ensuing budget negotiations but eventually dropped for expediency's sake.

"I was hopeful because of the dialogue we were having that New York would be a national leader on criminal justice reform," said Justine Luongo of The Legal Aid Society. "But I can't say I was surprised it didn't happen [in the budget] because so many critical reforms are needed."

Exactly why criminal justice reforms were dropped appears up for interpretation. Sen. Diane Savino, who has championed a bill that would create more transparency in grand jury deliberations, told Gotham Gazette that items were dropped from the budget where consensus already existed to save time. "I think there is a future for all of them," Savino said when asked what criminal justice reforms she thought would be in play when legislators return to session. "It will all be dealt with along with mayoral control and the minimum wage and everything else." Savino's bill was referred to the Senate's codes committee on January 15 and has seen no action since.

Luongo said she expects the debate over raising the age teens can be tried as adults in New York to be settled fairly quickly. Cuomo included the policy in the budget but it was dropped after concerns were raised about how it would be implemented. While policy must be negotiated, funding for the program did remain in the budget.

"Clearly we can't wait any longer," said Luongo. "The time must be right to make sure the system treats everyone fairly." Luongo noted that New York and North Carolina are the only two states that try 16- and 17-year-olds as adults.

"The promise of equal justice is a New York promise and it is an American promise. We are currently in the midst of a national problem where people are questioning our justice system," Cuomo said during his State of the State speech in January. "And they're questioning whether the justice system really is fairness for all. And whether the justice system really is colorblind. And that's not just New York, it's a problem all across the country."

In the speech, Cuomo proposed a fairly balanced set of policies, with some intended to please those concerned with police safety following the murder of two NYPD officers and with public safety in general. Those policies include creating a statewide commission on police and community relations, helping police departments hire more people of color, providing funding for bullet-proof glass and vests, allowing district attorneys to issue reports on what happened in closed-door grand juries involving police killings and allowing the governor to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the findings in such cases and then be able to appoint a special prosecutor.

Appointing a special prosecutors to such cases may be the most contentious issue regarding criminal justice reform. Advocates including The Legal Aid Society and a number of Democratic legislators have asked Cuomo to name Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as an independent monitor. That appears unlikely as Cuomo and Schneiderman are rivals, with Cuomo actually working to weaken the AG's reach since becoming governor. On December 8, Schneiderman asked Cuomo to issue an interim executive order allowing the AG's office to investigate and, if necessary, appoint a special prosecutor in cases where police kill unarmed civilians. "While several worthy legislative reforms have been proposed, the Governor has the power to act today to solve this problem," Schneiderman wrote. "I strongly encourage him to take action now."

Sen. Gustavo Rivera has said he plans to use parliamentary procedure in the Senate to force a vote on his bill that would put the AG in charge of cases where police kill unarmed civilians. Rivera requested committee consideration of the bill on March 20. Even if the bill comes to a vote it isn't clear Senate Republicans would go for it as many of them favor keeping local DAs in charge of the cases. The bill is much more likely to pass in teh Assmebly, where it has major support. Assembly Member Keith Wright is the bill's sponsor in that house.

A number of Democratic legislators said that they expect some form of special prosecutor legislation to get done but they aren't quite sure what it will look like in the end. Senate Republicans are looking to deliver on tax breaks and are facing major pressure on the education tax credit from religious groups who have even threatened to primary legislators if the bill doesn't get done. That could give Democrats some leverage when it comes time to negotiate criminal justice reforms - but, there are so many other major issues at stake for Democrats including a minimum wage increase, renewing mayoral control of schools, the sunset of rent laws, and The DREAM Act, that there is a chance that the debate could be overshadowed yet again.

"We really had a perfect storm that kept a lot of these issues in at bay," said Peralta "We had an overly ambitious executive budget and a lot of important things fell out, but now we have three months to get it all done. Its time to get to work."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Panel at BRIC event (photo: Ben Max)

BROOKLYN - An expert group was called together Thursday night in Brooklyn for a town hall on the influence of big money on politics and to answer questions about what can be done to fix a system that virtually all in attendance agreed is broken.

Hosted by non-profit organization Brooklyn Independent Media, or BRIC, panelists broadly diagnosed the disease eating away at New York politics and offered antidotes, which combined may provide a cure.

About 100 people attended the event in space at BAM in downtown Brooklyn as the panel of politicians, activists, and advocates argued solutions to the problems of voter apathy and lack of engagement among New Yorkers who feel powerless to effect change in a system heavily influenced by monied special interests.

The panel included Fordham Law professor and recent gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout; New York City Public Advocate Letitia James; Executive Director of Citizens Union Dick Dadey; former New York Assemblymember and City Council Member Al Vann; economic journalist and author Doug Henwood; and comedian-political activist Ted Alexandro. Brian Vines of BRIC moderated the panel discussion and audience Q&A that followed.

Solutions offered by the esteemed panel largely revolved around campaign finance reform and reducing barriers to voter participation.

"One of the ways, and this is a traditional american way to deal with the problem of money in power, you change the campaign finance system but you also take it out at its root and make sure that we have decentralized power instead of this concentrated power," said Teachout, stressing that big banks need to be broken up to reduce their influence on politicians.

Teachout focused heavily on campaign finance reform while challenging incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year. "In some ways these campaign contributions are the gateway drugs to bribes," she later added as the panel discussed corruption in government.

The public financing of elections was instrumental in James being elected the first woman of color in a citywide office, the public advocate said. With its public matching system and spending caps New York City is a model for campaign finance reform and encourages political participation, James said. It was a point echoed by others, including Dadey, who leads a good government group. James also highlighted New York City's expanding participatory budgeting initiative by which City Council members allow their constituents to determine how some capital funds are spent.

The panel spoke of apathy among voters juxtaposed with politically engaged but disillusioned youth. "We're at the bottom of the barrel in the country in terms of the number of voters, eligible voters, coming out and voting," said Dadey of Citizens Union. "And why is that? I think people feel a sense of powerlessness, a sense that they're not able to influence the decisions. But by not voting we're giving up and what we need to do is take a look at ways that we can engage people more in our democracy."

Dadey said public funding of elections can both counteract the influence of big money and also motivate people to get involved in political life. He also called for a series of voting reforms to make it easier for people to cast their ballots.

Ted Alexandro, who was an active member of the Occupy Wall Street movement, said people are disillusioned by a "suffocated system" where only money ensures access to power. "People may [ask], 'What happened to Occupy?' but if you look around Occupy may have sparked a thousand other little things and made activism potent again," he said.

The movement, said Doug Henwood, momentarily changed the political discourse where influence and wealth were concentrated at the top. "People then get the feeling that everything is being decided for them," he said. "There's no popular influence over public policy so 'why bother?'" He emphasized the need to turn this popular spirit of uprising into long-term goals.

Al Vann was on the same page. "There is a significant role for the power of protest but it has to lead to the real power," he said. Beyond getting people's attention, protest "has to have more to it," he added. He prescribed four elements to restore and sustain democracy: an informed and engaged citizenry; an expectation of integrity of and adherence to some moral standards by elected officials; professionalised electeds; and stricter penalties for those who betray the trust of the public.

Dadey reiterated, and other panelists agreed, that New York must remove barriers to democratic participation by establishing early voting, mail-in and online voting, and easier voter registration. As they touched upon broad subjects from gentrification to increasing the power of the public advocate, net neutrality, and public education, one thing rang clear: hope.

All those on stage - and many in the audience - showed energy and enthusiasm about making change. James put it succinctly: "I'm not dismayed by apathy." Instead, James said she wants to inspire people to run for office and speak to the "bread-and-butter" issues that affect the everyman but politicians are afraid to talk about. "I'm drunk on hope," she said.

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by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union

Comptroller Stringer at a recent press conference (photo: @scottmstringer)

In February, Comptroller Scott Stringer declared that his office's online City-spending tracking tool, Checkbook NYC, would start providing information about subcontracts handed out by prime vendors working with the City. The push to publicly display what is billions of dollars of often secretive, murky procurement indicates a big step toward what could be a major leap forward in transparency. In Fiscal Year 2014 the City doled out $21.2 billion to subcontractors. "New York City has set a new standard for transparency by being the first government to make subcontractor payment data readily publicly available," Stringer told Gotham Gazette in a statement.

To make the initiative truly transformative, though, the City must ensure that its contractors report their subcontracting, something not required by law.

While the first subcontractor data went live on Checkbook NYC two months ago, the initiative was initially announced in March 2013 by former Comptroller John Liu and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Without legislation requiring it, the two agreed it would become protocol.

"Fully disclosing contracts was a major step forward," Liu said of launching Checkbook NYC in a recent phone interview. "Subcontracting and lack of transparency remains a huge problem. A great deal of mismanagement and impropriety with Citytime happened at the subcontracting level," he said, citing the CityTime scandal where a contractor siphoned millions of dollars from the City while delaying an automated payroll technology project.

Structured similarly to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which requires online disclosure of subcontractors by Federal contractors, the new rules established in 2013 state that prime vendors who win contracts with the City are expected to upload details about subcontracting to the City's Payee Information Portal. Those names and payments are then made available on Checkbook NYC, which provides regular updates on the City's contracts and spending.

Good government watchdogs have praised the initiative. "It is great to see some subcontractor data up on Checkbook, and we hope to see more as the City works to ensure that prime contractors are aware of their responsibility to report information on their subcontractors," said Rachael Fauss, director of public policy at good government organization Citizens Union.

Exposing the largess of subcontracts in a clear, transparent way fosters greater opportunity for government accountability and can protect against corruption, as Liu alluded to.

"This was a huge data integration task," said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, another good government group, and co-chair of the NYC Transparency Working Group. "They had to do a lot of plumbing work to get it to here. We're very impressed."

Despite this unprecedented move toward greater fiscal transparency, there are limitations to the system. Collection of the data began in November 2013 but it is self-reported by the prime contractors and there has been no indication that the City is pushing to enforce compliance. As of the end of March, Checkbook NYC shows $9.2 billion in City contracts for the ongoing fiscal year (2015), but only $33.1 million in subcontracts reported.

For fiscal year 2014, Checkbook NYC reports $207.6 million paid to subcontractors, with a total contract spending of $21.2 billion. That is a mere 0.97 percent. The comptroller acknowledges that subcontracting reporting is minimal at this point. "This new initiative opens up a world of opportunities for transparency and good governance, but the information is only as good as the data that is shared. To truly succeed, there must be a city-wide effort to incentivize vendors to enter subcontractor information on our City's systems," Stringer said.

Citizens Union's Fauss has already called for action by the City Council to ensure compliance. Testifying at a multi-committee hearing in February on the 911 system contract and the Department of Investigation's report on the Emergency Communications Transformation Program, Fauss recommended that the Council conduct oversight hearings on fully implementing the rules for reporting subcontracting data. "A citywide, coordinated effort to bring all prime contractors into compliance could go a long way toward further improving transparency of outsourced projects," she told Gotham Gazette.

Liu agrees that whether through law or regulation, prime vendors should be required to disclose the data. The initial agreement stated that, "In the event a prime vendor fails to carry out their responsibility, the City has the right to withhold payment until all requirements have been met." But Liu is uncertain how much of that agreement survived the transition through administrations, both in the comptroller's office and the mayor's office.

"Maybe what we're seeing are the bureaucratic limits between what a memorandum of understanding from a former mayor and former comptroller can produce," said Reinvent Albany's Kaehny. "Maybe what we need right now is a city law to ensure compliance with reporting, otherwise it will never achieve its potential."

Kaehny believes this fiscal transparency tool is powerful in understanding the City's procurement system, ensuring fairness, and fighting "pay-to-play" culture and conflicts of interests. But without sufficient data, it is useless to journalists, advocates, academics, and others.

Even just getting this ball rolling is no small feat: New York is the first city in the U.S. to provide subcontracting data, according to Stringer's office and advocates. The state-level equivalent fiscal transparency website, Openbook New York, does not provide subcontracting information, although it might in the future. "New Yorkers have a right to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent," emailed Nikki Jones, deputy press secretary for New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, whose office runs Openbook. "We are continuously looking for ways to increase government transparency by expanding the amount of available financial data on openbooknewyork.com," she added.

But the consensus seems to be that the City Council, mayor, and comptroller need to work together to push for full compliance. "I think it's great that subcontracting information is now available on the website," said James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist, Fiscal Policy Institute. "But it seems unworkable if [disclosure] is not required. If it's just voluntary and there's no penalty, as soon as any issue related to subcontracting comes up, even those who do provide the data will stop providing it." He praised the comptroller's comments drawing attention to the fact that it is not yet universal.

A law mandating strict reporting requirements would certainly boost this transparency initiative. Could the Council or Mayor's Office of Contract Services (MOCS) help ensure compliance? Council Member Helen Rosenthal, chair of the Council's contracts committee, declined to comment, saying the comptroller is best versed on the issue; and numerous attempts to contact MOCS went unanswered.

A recent audit report released by the comptroller's office criticized the mismanagement of funds under the "Build It Back" (BIB) housing recovery program for Hurricane Sandy victims, largely representative of Bloomberg administration performance. A Pennsylvania-based contractor, Public Financial Management, was meant to handle BIB applications through three subcontractors. A look at Checkbook NYC shows that these subcontractors, and the payments made to them, have not been reported, though Public Financial Management has been paid more than $17 million, of which $4.4 million went to subcontractors.

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by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Parks Commissioner Silver at a City Council hearing (photo: William Alatriste)

As New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver approaches his first anniversary on the job, advocates and officials are still getting to know the new steward of the city's green spaces. One of Silver's more common mantras may help provide a better understanding of his mission, if we can decode it.

"My goal as commissioner is to make sure our agency culture shifts from one of just maintaining our parks to truly caring for our parks, which will reflect an even greater degree of emotional attachment and dedication to the work that we do," Silver said at a City Council preliminary budget hearing on March 9.

The first duty of the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) according to the City Charter is indeed to "manage and care for all parks," but the definition of "caring" versus "maintaining" is still unclear. Gotham Gazette asked Commissioner Silver's office for clarification.

"Practically speaking, that translates to seeking more community input in park development, identifying new ways to engage with our 1,800 community partnerships, increasing our focus on neighborhood parks, and giving staff the tools they need to nurture relationships with community stewards and care for parks across the city," Silver said in a statement.

This definition reflects Silver's background as an urban planner who thinks about the larger role that parks play in their neighborhoods. Silver was originally in the running to become chairman of the City Planning Commission, as reported by Crain's New York in January, but became the parks commissioner instead.

At his introductory press conference last year, Silver said that parks are more than just green spaces because they mean different things to different people by offering "spiritual, physical, social, and economic benefits." He followed up on this idea in an interview with The Guardian and said that parks serve as a "living room" for many people.

By this logic, basic maintenance alone - mowing the grass, trimming the trees, emptying trash cans - isn't enough to make a park successful. Local residents must feel an attachment and want to get involved. Developing this connection with community groups will require the more "caring" approach that Silver talks about.

Yet some advocates say that caring community support, even in large helpings, can't make up for low city funding.

"Our park system is in desperate need of reform and greater funds," said Geoffrey Croft, president of watchdog group New York City Park Advocates. "Parks do not look like Central Park."

Croft, who said he has visited every park in the city, believes that the DPR budget is about one-third of what would actually be required to restore and maintain the city's 29,000 acres of parkland to good condition.

Maintaining that baseline of quality would require many more workers, possibly thousands, than are currently employed. The preliminary budget for Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) actually reduces the headcount of park enforcement patrol officers, gardeners, urban park rangers, and maintenance workers.

As outlined in Mayor Bill de Blasio's preliminary FY16 budget, DPR's proposed budget of $428 million is up overall, though the amount contributed by the City is down. City funds account for $336 million of the agency's preliminary budget number, a $12 million decrease from the City's contribution during the current fiscal year. Parks expenditures amount to about .4 percent of the City's total budget being spent to maintain 14 percent of its land.

Advocates, such as Croft, say that this continues a trend of underfunding for DPR and an increased reliance on park conservancies. These conservancies often benefit from wealthier residents who can donate the large sums required to maintain their green spaces in top condition.

This type of community involvement may constitute "caring," but it often favors a small group of parks in high-end neighborhoods. In 2012, the Central Park Conservancy received a $100 million gift from one person. Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg recently announced a $113 million commitment to build a deluxe green pier in Hudson River Park - with an additional $17 million coming from the City.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mayor de Blasio's Community Park Initiative will renovate 35 small parks in underfunded areas at a proposed cost of $130 million - some of which is already being spent in the current fiscal year. Silver and de Blasio have touted this as a start toward funding equity. Another 100 sites were also identified as needing capital investment, though this would require more money in the future.

Tupper Thomas, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, agrees that additional funding will be necessary. Her organization - which is listed as a "partner" on the DPR website - has published reports on the challenges of mid-sized or "neighborhood" parks in particular, green spaces that are often too small to attract high-level donations and too big to be fixed by City Council funding or other allocations.

"You can't have every park out trying to raise money for itself, that's not going to be the ideal way," she said.

Mark Levine, chair of the City Council's parks committee, has called for $500,000 to fund a master planning process for these mid-sized parks and upwards of $200 million in capital funds to renovate them. As for what "caring" means in terms of the overall DPR budget, Levine is also confused.

"If it means more loving care, emphasis on the care, I'm all for it," Levine said in an interview with Gotham Gazette. "That's why City Council funded additional gardeners and maintenance workers [last year] and I would hope that they would not be cut in the final version of the budget," he added, referring to the mayor's Executive Budget, due in April, and the adopted budget deal that must be reached by July 1.

Levine also said that the idea of "caring" could mean an increased role from community volunteer groups.

Both Levine and Silver will be participating in the upcoming 2015 Partnerships for Parks Conference on Saturday, April 11, where residents can learn about volunteering and fundraising strategies.

The program is part of the City Parks Foundation, a nonprofit that partners with DPR to organize recreation programs and help train volunteers. This involves coaching on how to work with elected officials, apply for grants, and recruit residents. Heather Lubov, the foundation's executive director, agreed that more city money would be helpful but emphasized the importance of volunteers regardless.

"I think you always want community support for your park, no matter how well-funded the maintenance for those parks," she said. "If you have an interested community, you have a well-cared for park."

A recent $5 million grant from American Express, in partnership with the Department of Interior, will also help increase volunteer participation in the city. The money will be distributed in 50 cities throughout the country, starting in New York. Silver was part of the announcement at Castle Clinton, but it's unclear how much of a difference this will make in the city's parks.

With interest in volunteerism and conservancy management on the rise as City funding for maintenance declines, Silver's mantra of "caring" over "maintaining" may just be an attempt to embrace the new direction in which New York's parks system is headed.

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by Cole Rosengren, Gotham Gazette
@ColeRosengrenNY

Gov. Cuomo & AM Nolan shake on an ethics deal (photo: the Governor's Office via flickr)

The arrest of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was supposed to spark the moment for true reform in Albany. It felt to many a simultaneously shocking and galvanizing event, strong enough to splinter, if not destroy the dam, allowing the flow of real discussion about regulating lawyer-legislators, loopholes allowing unlimited LLC donations to candidates, and conflicts of interest. It was a time for bold leadership.

"There was no appetite for incremental change," said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, of good government groups, legislators, and others rejecting Governor Andrew Cuomo's ethics reforms as "tinkering around the edges."

"The governor could have challenged the Legislature by imposing on himself restrictions that would have bolstered his efforts and shamed them by leading by example," Dadey added, expressing the general sense of regret that many have around what is being called another missed opportunity to drastically reform the culture in state government.

Cuomo did come out swinging after Silver's arrest, loudly proposing a five-point ethics reform plan he said he was so committed to that he would hold up passage of the budget if necessary. But as the governor engaged in discussions with leaders of the state Legislature, the proposals that many had originally called too weak became even less bold and the final compromise included in the budget deal landed with less than a thud.

Reform-minded legislators and good government groups say that as ethics reforms were molded they were shut out by the Cuomo administration, which has become increasingly standoffish. It is said that good ideas went unused because Team Cuomo refuses to entertain anything it doesn't come up with first and in the end what could have been a transformative moment resulted in more of the same, Cuomo's third incremental ethics reform package in four years (see timeline below), revealed to most legislators with a heap of voluminous budget bills only hours before they came to a vote up against the final deadline.

A number of legislators were expecting much more drastic reform after Silver's arrest. They feel that the ethics discussion should focus on preventing legislators from earning any outside income, or at least disallowing lawmakers from practicing law in the private sector. Silver is charged with using his power as a legislature to advance the interests of a law firm that paid him for referring cases.

Some lawyer-legislators are leading by example.

Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat and non-practicing attorney, said that a new commission included in the budget to study legislative pay raises could answer some objections that legislators aren't paid enough not to have outside income. Legislators currently make a base salary of $79,500 a year, a rate that has not been increased in more than fifteen years.

Sen. Jeff Klein, head of the Independent Democratic Conference, broke with his Republican allies, saying the ethics plan doesn't go far enough because it fails to ban outside income. Klein divested himself from his law firm following Silver's indictment. "During this crisis we need to win back the voters' trust," Klein said. "I think the way we do this is to not have any potential conflicts at all moving forward. I think this is sort of a clarion call for all. If you want to earn outside income, you shouldn't be in public service," Klein told State of Politics in February.

Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos is reportedly under investigation related to his outside income. He is of counsel at Ruskin, Moscou & Faltischek. Senate Republicans appear to be steadfast against banning outside income and at least one Republican lawmaker was insulted by questions about conflicts of interest. As part of a sweeping set of reforms he unveiled in a speech at a Citizens Union event, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a former state senator himself, called for an all-out ban on legislators' earning outside income.

During the budget debate, Hoylman, insisted that lawyers should not be allowed to be legislators, citing their loyalty to clients that comes from cash retainers. He advocated banning outside income completely. Republican State Sen. John DeFrancisco, chair of the finance committee, objected, calling Hoylman's comments "out of line" and "discrimination" against lawyers.

DeFrancisco also challenged Democrats' characterization of the law that allows donors to use LLCs to donate unlimited funds as a "loophole." Sen. Daniel Squadron, a Democrat, introduced a hostile amendment to end the LLC loophole, and quoted a series of newspaper editorials that suppot its end in his argument that the amendment was germane to the budget discussion. He and his amendment were shot down. Then, DeFrancisco challenged Squadron's use of the word "loophole" and said it was simply part of the law.

The new ethics package - being hailed as transformative by the governor and some legislative leaders - includes increased financial disclosure requirements for legislators, gives the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) much-needed funding, and forces legislators to use a swipe card to check in at the Capitol to get their travel reimbursements. As Capital New York reported, the changes do not address the types of corruption Albany has seen most over the years. There is one other reform in the works that could take legislators' pensions away if they are convicted of corruption.

The changes come with loopholes. Lawyer-legislators can apply to two agencies to keep their disclosures private (while JCOPE is already controlled by legislative and gubernatorial appointees and has proved generally ineffective).

Never on the table, it seems, was closing the massive LLC loophole. Cuomo is the largest beneficiary of the system that allows corporations and individuals to funnel unlimited campaign funds to candidates through various LLCs.

John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany said it does not generally behoove good government groups to attack reform measures. "You quickly become the boy who cried wolf," said Kaehny. "You hit a single this year, and another next year, but that just isn't happening." Kaehny said that with lawyer-legislators protected from full disclosure the package lacks any real meat.

"What are you left with? A swipe card system that can be easily defrauded," said Kaehny, who notes the standard in the corporate world is biometric ID systems that are not easily cheated and are relatively inexpensive.

Dadey said that the reforms are not insignificant but that they should have come much sooner. "These changes were significant but would have been more significant in 2011. This is what we wanted to see in 2011," said Dadey. "This ethic reform is bigger than what we got in 2014 but it is not as big as it needed to be to battle corruption in Albany. We always suspected corruption bigger than we knew and the speaker's arrest blew it up. This was a huge opportunity to change Albany's ethics."

Dadey and representatives of other good government groups say that in past years they were included in discussions on ethics reforms early in the process but this year were only consulted when a deal was in place.

Kaehny said that the he believes the administration needs to start leading by example to sway the debate. But, he said he doesn't have a great deal of faith that that is going to take place as, for example, Cuomo has not taken unilateral action to end his administration's 90-day email deletion policy, saying, "The governor has absolutely not led by example on this - he has led backwards."

Rather than ending the policy (as Schneiderman did in his office) that good government groups have called "devastating to transparency," Cuomo defended the policy, then attacked the Legislature for not being open to the Freedom of Information Law, and proposed an email summit to occur before the end of March. That deadline has passed and good government groups and stakeholders including the offices of the attorney general and the comptroller say they have not been contacted.

"Its disappointing because we have a strong decisive governor," said Kaehny. "The proof is in his actions, but here he is trying to mislead, distract, and throw up smoke and mirrors. To this day we haven't gotten a response - not acknowledging our letter [requesting an update on the summit], not saying: 'we disagree and we are gonna yell at you.' So we are exasperated and disappointed in this lack of leadership."

Reform-minded legislators and good government groups agree that it is likely that a discussion about a new ethics reform package will start again before end of the upcoming legislative session, which will run from April 21 to mid-June. "This ethics fight isn't over," said Dadey. "We will need to be talking about it again very soon when the U.S. Attorney comes out with a new set of indictments," he added, referring to Preet Bharara, who has brought charges against Silver and others. "We peeled off one layer of the onion this time," Dadey continued, "but we will get to the core, if only because the public will demand it."

A look at Cuomo's attempts at reform:

2011: The Clean Up Albany Act established The Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate corruption in the legislative and executive branches. Labeled "independent," the agency is actually headed by gubernatorial and legislative appointees with deep connections to those elected officials. It only takes three votes out of 14 members to stop an investigation. A required review of JCOPE's effectiveness in 2014 was not undertaken and the latest ethics law extends the deadline for such a review.

Cuomo's quote: "This bill is the tough and aggressive approach we need. It provides for disclosure of outside income by lawmakers, creates a true independent monitor to investigate corruption, and spells out tough, new rules that lobbyists must follow. Government does not work without the trust of the people and this ethics overhaul is an important step in restoring that trust."

2013: After a slew of legislators are indicted, Cuomo announces a package of reforms that good government groups call "watered down," but legislators balk. Cuomo threatens to convene a Moreland Commission to investigate corruption in the Legislature and makes good on the promise in June. Moreland began holding hearings and taking testimony across the state but was quickly hampered by interference from the Cuomo administration when it began investigating major Cuomo donors.

Cuomo's quote: "Since the Legislature has failed to act, today I am formally empanelling a Commission to Investigate Public Corruption pursuant to the Moreland Act and Section 63(8) of the Executive Law that will convene the best minds in law enforcement and public policy from across New York to address weaknesses in the State's public corruption, election and campaign finance laws, generate transparency and accountability, and restore the public trust."

2014: Cuomo goes into details of a budget deal on a Saturday press conference call with reporters and reveals he has shuttered The Moreland Commission in exchange for a set of reforms that he sought the previous year. Those reforms include stronger bribery laws, a trial campaign finance system that only applied to the 2014 Comptroller's race, and a new enforcement position at the Board of Elections. Good government groups slammed the move and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara launched an investigation into Cuomo's involvement in the commission.

Cuomo's quote: "It's not a legal question. The Moreland Commission was my commission. It's my commission. My subpoena power, my Moreland Commission. I can appoint it, I can disband it. I appoint you, I can un-appoint you tomorrow. So, interference? It's my commission. I can't 'interfere' with it, because it is mine," Cuomo told Crain's.

2015: After Silver's arrest Cuomo gives a speech at the NYU School of Law where he discusses major reforms like a full-time legislature and a public campaign finance system. He says he is willing to have a late budget if it means getting his proposed reforms. However, a following statement from his office indicates the bigger reforms are not part of his ultimatum. When the budget deal is finally reached it includes more funding for JCOPE, a swipe card system for lawmakers to prevent per diem fraud, and a set of new rules he calls "The nation's toughest diclosure laws."

Cuomo's quote: "I said I would not sign a Budget without real ethics reform, and this Budget does just that, putting in place the nation's strongest and most comprehensive rules for disclosure of outside income by public officials, reforming the long-abused per diem system, revoking public pensions for those who abuse the public's trust, defining and eliminating personal use of campaign funds, and increasing transparency of independent expenditures."

Unlike years past, Cuomo and leaders of the Legislature did not hold a press conference to discuss the budget or the ethics reforms.

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Council Member Laurie Cumbo (photo: William Alatriste)

In one of Brooklyn's most rapidly changing districts, where brownstones sell for millions of dollars around the corner from deteriorating public housing complexes, Council Member Laurie Cumbo believes that arts and culture can be a unifying factor.

"The whole purpose of humanity is to create culture and to advance culture. So it can't be separated from all of the other priorities," Cumbo said during an interview in her legislative office. "If you're not creating culture there's very little purpose to life in a way."

This idea has motivated Cumbo for decades, but during her first year in the City Council she's had a bigger platform than ever before to help put it into action. Since taking office in January, 2014, Cumbo quickly established herself as a vocal member, in part as chair of the Women's Issues Committee. Having founded the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) and worked at several other city cultural institutions, Cumbo, 40, is now seen as one of the strongest arts supporters on the Council.

Last year, Cumbo contributed more than half of her capital budget to a larger $22 million investment in her district's cultural institutions by the de Blasio administration and other elected officials. Out of the more than $4 million that Cumbo spent, $1.4 million was for MoCADA. This move drew some charges of favoritism, though Cumbo said it was all part of a broader mission for her 35th Council District.

The district - comprised of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights, as well as parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant - has seen some of the most rapid gentrification in the city.

"Brooklyn is a victim of its own success in the sense that we've become the hottest place on Earth and so as a result some 60,000 people want to move here every year," said Cumbo.

Dealing with these influxes has become one of Cumbo's toughest challenges. While excited about the new possibilities, she is also concerned about helping Brooklyn's longtime residents too. Recent comments at a Council hearing about the perception that "blocs" of new Asian residents were getting preference for NYCHA housing over local residents caused some controversy. Cumbo later apologized - not the first time she's had to so for similar racially-charged statements - and said that she "embraces" all new residents.

"She's really concerned about people not getting shut out in the prosperity that's happening in Brooklyn," said Aaron Zimmerman, a longtime colleague and executive director of the New York Writers Coalition.

With her district among those at the center of the city's changing landscape, and Mayor de Blasio's affordable housing plan set to create even more density, Cumbo has a formidable task. She has tried to strike a balance by helping fund new projects to encourage cultural tourism - such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music's expansion - while also moving money toward auditorium renovations and new technology for local schools.

Growing up in East Flatbush, Cumbo got an early appreciation of how the arts can give people a connection to life outside their neighborhoods. Her mother was an opera singer and worked at Lincoln Center, her father created mixed media art pieces, and her brother was a photographer who once had his own gallery in Tribeca. Interning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when she was 15 further inspired Cumbo to pursue her own artistic interests.

Later, Cumbo saw black artists underrepresented in Brooklyn and decided to change that by starting a new museum to feature their work and help educate the surrounding community. She wrote a proposal to found the museum for her master's thesis in Visual Arts Administration at NYU's Steinhardt School. In 1999, with limited funding from friends and family, MoCADA was born.

It started as a small operation in a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone and eventually moved into a larger, more visible Fort Greene location in 2006. Over more than 12 years, with funding from elected officials and private foundations, Cumbo expanded MoCADA beyond its gallery space. The organization holds film festivals in parks, teaches art in schools, hosts cultural events at local community centers and more. She also displayed controversial pieces about subjects such as gentrification and police brutality, which sparked debate due to the museum receiving some city funding.

In 2008, the piece "The Blue Wall of Violence" by an artist who calls himself Dread Scott drew particular outrage. Target practice silhouettes and corresponding dates were posted on a wall to represent the specific deaths of unarmed men at the hands of police officers. Each silhouette held items - a set of keys, a candy bar, a squeegee - that police said they mistook for weapons in each incident. Underneath all of this lay a coffin with mechanized batons banging on it.

Some newspapers and police union officials denounced the piece, but Cumbo refused to take it down.

When asked by a reporter from community paper The Local in 2010 whether she intentionally chose provocative exhibits, Cumbo said she was responding to real life events.

"You can't have a man in the Bronx shot by police with 41 bullets and have an exhibition on quilt making," she said, in reference to the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo.

[Related: The City Council Definition of Women's Issues]

In 2012, Cumbo stepped down from her duties at MoCADA to run for now-Public Advocate Letitia James' council seat. Cumbo wouldn't elaborate on the specifics of her decision to run, but it's clear that she wanted a larger forum than MoCADA's gallery to share her ideas about Brooklyn's future.

She beat four challengers in the 2013 Democratic primary - winning 36 percent of the vote by a margin of almost 10 points - and ran unopposed in the general election to become the 35th District's newest representative.

There were questions about whether Cumbo would be ready to handle issues outside of the art world, but she said that wasn't a problem because of the connections she'd made from more than a decade of networking in Brooklyn.

"If you're in the art world, they feel like you're in this bubble that's disconnected from the rest of the world," said Cumbo. "But if you're doing your job right you're integrated in every aspect of society."

Some areas of her new job have come easier than others. Participating in a Council "die-in" inspired by a non-indictment in the Eric Garner case and co-sponsoring the "Right to Know Act" fall in line with Cumbo's past comments on policing. Her former and frequent comments against gentrification have made contentious discussions about upzoning in Crown Heights even more challenging.

CMs Cumbo & Williams (photo: @JumaaneWilliams)

Overall, Cumbo claims to have had a successful first year. She passed her first bill, which will require annual reports on graduation rates of foster children to help track their success after high school. Cumbo also worked with other council members to allocate funds to anti-domestic violence programs and restore money for 57 NYCHA community centers during budget negotiations, she said.

Cumbo points to these community centers, and their extended summer hours, as a key part of reducing violence in NYCHA complexes. In what she said is an example of culture helping in unconventional ways, Cumbo and her staff spent multiple nights last year playing games, showing movies, and doing other activities at the Ingersoll Community Center. In December, Mayor de Blasio announced that crime at the Ingersoll Houses had dropped by 18 percent.

While Cumbo attributes some of that success to her efforts, she agrees that more funding is needed to continue improving her district's NYCHA buildings.

"You know, you have to make choices," she said. "You have to see things holistically in the sense that last year I had a strong focus on art and culture. This year I'm going to have a stronger focus on NYCHA developments."

Even with these new plans, Cumbo can't help but gravitate back to the art world. At the beginning of March, she hosted her first State of the District event at the Brooklyn Museum. Nearly 20 years ago she was an intern at the museum. Now she has the power to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollar to it.

On a snowy Sunday afternoon, nearly 100 people came to hear about Cumbo's first-year accomplishments and plans for the year ahead. Among the guests were Senator Charles Schumer, Public Advocate Letitia James, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and other council members.

Amid jokes about her colorful fashion sense and attention to detail, Cumbo also received plenty of praise from her colleagues.

"Everyone said Laurie had some big shoes to fill. That's not true. Laurie had her own shoes," said Public Advocate James, Cumbo's predecessor. "Her shoes have been much higher and much fiercer than mine. So she has blazed her own trail."

Her cultural focus was also emphasized by a longtime colleague and mentor.

"The arts are so critical to our city, to our country, to our society," said Ella Weiss, president of the Brooklyn Arts Council. "We have to feed people, we have to house people, but we also have to nurture the soul."

Cumbo couldn't confirm future plans until her discretionary and capital funds are finalized in the city's Fiscal Year 2016 budget, but she gave a preview of what's on the agenda. MoCADA will be moving into the new "BAM South" tower, which is currently under construction, ensuring a permanent home for her creation. Other ideas range from a large-scale renovation of the Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights to reopening the Walt Whitman Community Center to allowing women temporary leave after they give birth in prison.

Many of these ideas are ambitious, and will take plenty of time and money, but Cumbo is undeterred.

"All we can do is keep working in the right direction," she said. "If we can do it here in New York then it can happen anywhere."

[Related: The City Council Definition of Women's Issues]

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by Cole Rosengren, Gotham Gazette
@ColeRosengrenNY