Members of the Muslim Democratic Club of NYC (photo: @LindaSarsour)

For Muslims around the world, the Eid al-Adha holiday means gifts for children and the poor, delectable food, and family gatherings.

That holds true for New York City's large Muslim population. But the celebration of the Biblical figure Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son has also become politically significant.

Since 2006, a coalition of labor, faith, and community groups has organized to ask the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to close schools for two Muslim holidays: Eid al-Adha, celebrated this year October 4-6, and Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Muslim parents and children say it is unfair to have to choose between going to school and celebrating a holy day.

For years, despite overwhelming support from the New York City Council, the Bloomberg administration rejected the request. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that children should not have more time off from school.

But Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly pledged to close public schools for those two holidays. Advocates for recognition of the holidays say that it's all but a done deal, and that they are talking with the DOE about how to make the change. Muslim leaders are buoyed by a mayor they say is more willing to listen to their concerns. Neither the DOE nor the mayor's office returned requests for comment for this story.

"He's trying to come in as very much the people's mayor, so that means he has to be the mayor of all of the people of New York City," said Moustafa Bayoumi, an author and academic who has reported extensively on Muslims in New York. "De Blasio has made an effort to court Muslim voters and that speaks to the growing power of the Muslim community's political voice."

The estimated number of Muslims in the city ranges from 600,000 - as a 2004 Columbia University study said - to 1,000,000, a number cited by Muslim activists. A 2008 Columbia Teacher's College study estimated that there were 100,000 Muslim public school students, about 1 in 10 of the overall student population.

Muslim leaders say that the campaign showcases an assertive Muslim community coming out of the post-September 11th shadows of suspicion and fear. "When the Muslim school holidays issue emerged, it became, I believe, a way for [Muslim immigrants] to begin to gradually break the psychological barriers of intimidation and to stand for their way of life," said Imam Al-Hajj Talib 'Abdur Rashid, the president of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York and the imam of the Harlem-based Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood.

The school calendar this year, the first full school year under the de Blasio administration, does not mark the two Islamic holidays. But Eid al-Fitr was over the summer and Eid al-Adha, which also marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, falls on a weekend this year.

City schools are, of course, already closed for major Jewish and Christian holidays.

Muslim advocates leading the charge for school holidays say that the issue now is one of how to implement the change to the calendar. One challenge is to determine when to close schools. Islamic authorities announce the official start date for holidays based on moon sightings. But since that method is infeasible for a school calendar determined well in advance, advocates say it should be based on astronomy. Figuring out the key details is now the subject of conversations between Muslim leaders and the City.

"The ball right now is in our court," said Linda Sarsour, the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, who mobilized the Muslim vote for de Blasio during the 2013 mayoral election. "It's actually becoming real, but we have to make sure it works right." She added that the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays is working with religious leaders to draft a document laying out the methodology for determining when to close schools. Sarsour said that the coalition is focused on making minimal impact on the school calendar.

New York City has changed laws in the past to accommodate diverse religious communities. In 1992, Mayor David Dinkins signed a law suspending rules that required parked cars to move for street cleaning on Muslim holy days.

If de Blasio follows through on his pledge, New York City would join the school districts of Dearborn, Michigan; Paterson and Trenton, New Jersey; Burlington, Vermont; and Cambridge, Massachusetts in closing schools for Muslim holidays. And if de Blasio doesn't come through, Sarsour said she has boxes of postcards ready to be sent out to pressure the mayor to live up to his promise.

The spark for the coalition was set off in 2006, when a required Regents exam was held on Eid al-Adha. That angered many Muslims. Later that year, the New York State Assembly passed a bill requiring the DOE to make an effort to schedule mandated tests on dates other than religious holidays. In 2009, the New York City Council overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution to add the two holidays to the school calendar.

Today, there is little significant opposition to closing schools for Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. Anti-Muslim figures like Pamela Geller, a New York-based blogger and activist who tried to halt the building of a lower Manhattan Islamic center near Ground Zero, do oppose the move vehemently. But in an e-mail, Geller said she had no plans to wage a campaign against closing schools.

Muslim students and parents drove the campaign by lobbying elected officials to support their ask. "The problem is [when] you have to make a choice between your future, your education, and your religious holiday. That should never be an option or a choice anybody has to make," said Hassan Mohammed, a freshman at Hunter College and recent graduate of Stuyvesant, one of New York City's selective public high schools. "This [issue] really hits home for the Muslim population."

***
Alex Kane is a New York-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Mondoweiss, AlterNet, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon and more. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane

Moses Waltan of Red Hook (photo: Emrys Ellerphoto)

Lower East Side, Red Hook residents unsure whether their communities are prepared for future extreme weather

More than a dozen reporters hit the ground on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and in Brooklyn's Red Hook on Thursday, Oct. 2 to kick off a special crowdsourcing project. The effort will explore whether the most vulnerable New Yorkers believe themselves safe from the coming impacts of climate change.

The reporters, part of a 30-plus-member news team, spent several hours combing the communities for insights from residents, asking "Two years after Sandy, do you think you're safer?"

Red Hook and the Lower East Side (LES) were targeted because they were among the worst hit by Sandy in 2012 and remain among the most at risk for future climate-related damage from extreme weather and sea-level rise.

WATCH LIVE COVERAGE - LOWER EAST SIDE | RED HOOK

The real-time reporting was also the launchpad for a two-week-long effort to survey residents of the two neighborhoods and New Yorkers everywhere for their views on climate safety. The results of the survey and the live reports will be part of a deeper analysis to be published later this month.

TAKE OUR CLIMATE SAFETY SURVEY

Uncertain future worries many
Many residents in both neighborhoods expressed concerns about whether they were, in fact, safer now. "Mother Nature has its own ideas," said Carlos Rosario, one middle-aged LES resident.

Rachel Goldberg, also of the LES, told our reporters she worries the city is less prepared because people think the storm is done and won't happen again. And another LES woman, Laura Pagan, 65, said she believes New York lacks the resources to deal with another storm of Sandy's magnitude.

Even The Big U, a several-hundred-million-dollar, federally funded project meant to prepare Lower Manhattan with a 10-mile series of preventative levees, didn't assuage residents' concerns. The project aims to further protect 29,000 public housings apartments, 150,000 residents and a Consolidated Edison substation from future storms.

But according to 39-year-old Rob Weber, while the Big U may make Lower Manhattan more resilient to coastal flooding, it won't prevent what he sees as the catastrophic effects of rising global temperatures. And Lilah Mejia, a climate activist who lives in the LES, said she won't feel climate safe as long as large corporations dominate the economy.

Some New Yorkers were reassured by steps they've seen to curb damages done by future storms. Said Carmelo Quinones, a 53-year-old LES resident, "They're repairing in a way to prevent any other floods in the future."

But many respondents couldn't say with certainty whether or not they believed themselves safer.

Patricia Nardone, a resident of the Knickerbocker Village since 1977 who was present during the entirety of Hurricane Sandy and left without water and power, said she likes that her building is constructing flood walls, but doesn't see any real protection from the river. And Jenny Chang, a Smith Healthcare Center employee, said she felt safer, but that the future was unpredictable.

 (Reporter Kat Long reports from the Lower East Side on how residents were responding to questions about climate safety)

Is climate safety a DIY project?
Reporters in Red Hook, Brooklyn also found a range of views, from the optimistic to the cynical. But most residents who spoke with reporters suggested community support was strong, voicing an "if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself" view.

For instance, establishments such as Sunny's Bar on Conover Street or Pioneer Street Supermarket saw the community band together to raise funds and help local businesses that were otherwise ignored. Sunny's Bar alone was said to have raised over $150,000 in relief through grassroots efforts.

Most waterfront residents seemed keenly aware of their vulnerability, as knowledge of climate risks outstrip actual physical preparations. Their bond is strengthened, some suggested, but not their infrastructure.

So while they said precautions like gas-operated generators are much more commonplace now than two years ago, that doesn't mean barriers or drainage has been improved.

And while some have flood insurance or have repaired their homes and are hopeful that they'll never have to face the trials and tribulations of another Sandy, others haven't taken any measures at all.

Jamie Lynn, bartender at Fort Defiance restaurant in Red Hook, said of her climate safety, "I'm not overly concerned. I'm not living in fear." (photo by Jessica Bal)

***
The live-reporting/crowdsourcing project is a joint effort involving Gotham Gazette, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, climate news site AdaptNY, and NY Environment Report.

Watch in the coming weeks for an extended analysis of community views on climate safety. Meanwhile, take our survey and tell us, Do you think you're safer?

Contributing to this report were:
(Red Hook team): Jessica Bal, Andrew Caringi, Reed Dunlea, Emrys Eller, Sophie Gauthier, Lillian Knoepp, Monica Melton, Carlotta Mohamed, Elise Murrell, Cari Party, Catherine Roberts, Maria Sanchez Diez, Derek Scancarelli, Bianca Silva, John Spina, Marguerite Ward;
(Lower East Side team): Chauncey Alcorn, Pilar Desha, Rahim Chagani, Jack D'isidoro, Erica Davies, William Engel, Allison Fox, David Gershgorn, Eric Levitz, Kathryn Long, Ayana Mason, Andrew Menezes, Cole Rosengren, Karen Shakerdge, Gabriela Alonso

Former Assembly Member Gabriela Rosa, who pleaded guilty to marriage and bankruptcy fraud in June, will face sentencing Friday morning at the Manhattan federal courthouse.

While prosecutors are asking Judge Denise Cote to sentence her to prison for 12 to 18 months, Rosa is asking for probation, court files show – and elected officials are stepping up to support her.

In 1996, Rosa, who is from the Dominican Republic, paid a man $8000 to marry her so she could become a citizen and then lied about it to federal immigration authorities, she has admitted. She also made false statements during a bankruptcy case.

Rosa, who represented Washington Heights and Inwood in uptown Manhattan, also admitted to receiving $1000 from a foreign government official during her campaign, and agreed to return it.

She resigned from office in June in accordance with her plea bargain.

The federal guidelines for sentencing, which are advisory, recommend 12 to 18 months in prison, but the plea bargain "allows us to seek a sentence that's outside of the guidelines," Richard H. Rosenberg, Rosa's lawyer, told Gotham Gazette.

"We're going in tomorrow hoping for the best," Rosenberg said.

The United States Probation Office has recommended probation – another advisory opinion. Judge Cote will make the final decision.

In a letter to Cote, Rosa called her offenses the worst mistakes she had ever made.

"I live with the shame and weight of my actions and cannot describe the impact and remorse I feel for committing these offenses," Rosa wrote. "My intention in getting involved in this [sic] offenses was related to my naïve vision of creating an ideal situation for my family. I was following the American dream."

Her lawyers noted in a court filing that she was "the family breadwinner, primary caretaker for her son" and also supported her ailing mother.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's sentencing memorandum, however, blasts Rosa's letter and recommends that Cote sentence Rosa within the guidelines.

A "decade-long scheme to obtain immigration benefits to which she was not entitled are not the acts of a 'naïve' person – they are the acts of someone who is calculating and willing to break the rules to advance her own interests," the memorandum reads.

Rosa "shows disrespect to those who pursue [the American] dream through lawful means," the memorandum continues. "Her decision to seek elective office for which she only qualified as a result of criminal conduct...represents an act of hubris warranting sanction."

On the other hand, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr., and Assembly Members Herman Farrell Jr. and Dan Quart sent character letters to Judge Cote. Members of Rosa's family, uptown nonprofit leaders, and several of her former constituents also sent letters, which were filed with the court.

While they said they didn't condone what she did, the elected officials praised Rosa's commitment to her district and her work ethic.

"She took her work seriously and responsibly, to the extent of becoming the first freshman member of her class to pass a piece of legislation on the floor," wrote Farrell, who Rosa worked for before being elected to the Assembly.

"She, like so many immigrants, pursued the American Dream – and made a mistake in her desperation to achieve it," wrote Díaz Sr.

"She always exceeded our expectations as a committed and principled official, and one who put the interests of her community above herself," wrote Brewer.

Rosa's supporters also point out in their letters that unlike other elected officials indicted for corruption, she did not abuse her office for personal financial gain.

But Bharara's memorandum mocked that argument: "This sets a discouragingly low bar for our elected officials," it reads.

Supporters of Rosa from her former district will gather at the Federal Courthouse tomorrow morning to urge leniency. A bus will be departing from Washington Heights to take supporters downtown.

"People in the community have expressed interest in being there and supporting her," an uptown politico told Gotham Gazette. "What people say is, 'Who hasn't done that for papers.' That's the attitude that walking through Washington Heights you hear."

Rosa was offered the chance to wear a wire and to catch other elected officials in exchange for leniency, but declined, the Daily News reported in August.

The sentencing is set for 10 a.m. Friday at the United States Courthouse on 500 Pearl St., courtroom 15B, Gloria Rojas, Cote's courtroom deputy, confirmed.

***
by Casey Tolan, Gotham Gazette
@CaseyTolan

Joel Pena, a Dominicanos USA canvasser (photo: Casey Tolan)

Joel Pena stood on the corner of 181st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue last week, trying to catch the attention of the people passing by. He competed with vendors hawking religious texts, ice cream, and coupons.

But Pena was offering something else: the chance to vote.

Pena was one of about a dozen canvassers hitting the streets last Tuesday, National Voter Registration day, for Dominicanos USA, an organization focused on increasing Dominican participation in elections.

The group says they've registered over 40,000 voters in New York and Rhode Island, two states home to the highest percentages of Dominicans in the country, since they started operations a year ago. Despite recent losses by Dominican candidates, the voter registration effort will keep going until at least 2016 — a boost for future candidates from the community.

Dairanys Grullon, an organizer, said the Dominican community deserves more representation in city and state government.

"We're growing rapidly, but we're not civically engaged," Grullon said of Dominicans in New York. "People want to be part of the democratic process, but they can't."

The effort, which is bankrolled by Dominican businesses groups, is targeted in heavily Dominican neighborhoods in upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

First, canvassers register new voters by talking to people on the street and going door-to-door. Then, during elections, they make phone calls, knock on doors, and offer free rides to encourage the newly registered voters to get to the polls.

"When you get one, it makes you feel so good," Pena said of new registrations. "Like you're making a difference."

Despite the new voters, recent Dominican candidates haven't fared so well. Adriano Espaillat, a state senator in uptown Manhattan, lost his second straight Congressional primary in June (although he was re-elected earlier this month). Angel Taveras, the mayor of Providence, lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Rhode Island a few weeks ago.

But Dominicanos USA staff stress that their organization is non-partisan and is not supporting any specific candidates.

"The notion that by virtue of being a Dominican candidate you're guaranteed the Dominican vote — as we've seen in recent elections — is a false one," said Manny Matos, a board member at the group.

And the Dominicanos USA canvassers out on the streets on Tuesday didn't just stop Dominicans — they will offer to register anyone, no matter their ethnicity.

However, it's no secret that more Dominican voters is a good thing for Dominican candidates like Espaillat, who won big in Dominican neighborhoods but was overtaken by Rep. Charles Rangel in African-American and Puerto Rican neighborhoods. A continuing registration effort would be helpful if Espaillat or another Dominican candidate runs for Congress again in 2016. An Espaillat spokesperson declined to comment for this article.

Adrian Pantoja, a professor at Pitzer College who has studied Dominican turnout in New York, said he thought the Dominicanos USA effort had the elements for success.

"What we find in field experiment research is that Latinos respond positively to messengers and messages that are Latino, that speak Spanish, that are targeted to their culture," Pantoja said. "If a fellow Dominican comes to their door and knocks on their door and says, 'This is why I vote, and this is why you should vote,' that's going to boost turnout."

Canvassers say they appreciate making an impact in the community, which has had historically low voter turnout.

"My parents weren't citizens," said Pena, who was born in Santo Domingo. "How could they teach me to do something they couldn't do themselves?"

It's not just about voting, though. "We're interested in anything that facilitates a quicker integration into American society for Dominican immigrants," Matos said. The group plans to encourage Dominicans to join community organizations, like school boards or PTA associations.

The effort is backed financially by Dominican business groups, including Grupo Vicini, a conglomerate run by one of the richest families in the Dominican Republic — a sign of how important U.S. politics involving the diaspora is back in the D.R. The group has faced questions about exploitation of Haitian workers.

On Tuesday, newly-registered voters said they were excited to get to the polls.

Wanda Perez, a Washington Heights resident who signed up with a Dominicanos USA canvasser because her registration had been missing in past elections, said she was looking forward to casting a vote for Hillary Clinton.

"I need to have my registration straight if she's running," Perez said. "She's my woman."

***
by Casey Tolan
@CaseyTolan

Council Member Dan Garodnick at a press conference (photo: William Alatriste)

On Thursday afternoon, the New York City Council Committee on Economic Development will meet to discuss the efficacy of tax breaks provided to businesses through the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The EDC is a not-for-profit corporation controlled by the Mayor's office and dedicated to encouraging economic growth.

Among the key programs the EDC runs to promote business and job growth in the city is a system of tax incentives. This system has been the subject of scrutiny before and the council economic development committee, led by new chair Council Member Dan Garodnick, is set to take another look at the operation.

The EDC has a long history starting in 1966 as the NYC Public Development Corporation. Over the years it evolved and in 2012, the former New York City Economic Development Corporation merged with New York City Economic Growth Corporation, another not-for-profit corporation. In it's latest iteration it works on a contractual basis with the City to provide assistance and financial services to businesses. It's mission is to attract private investment, promote employment opportunities, and manage projects such as community infrastructure.

In April 2010, former City Comptroller John C. Liu released an audit report on the EDC and cited a "noticeable lack of transparency in the public classification and disclosure of several revenue transactions, resulting in EDC's failure to remit $125.5 million in payments owed to the City between 2005 and 2008. Also problematic were internal control deficiencies that resulted in inadequate controls over disposition of City property, incomplete collection of rental income, as well as other weaknesses."

Among other things, the report recommended that there be enhanced transparency at the EDC and reforms to ensure that city assets and revenue were handled responsibly. In September of the following year, in yet another report, Liu noted that the EDC had failed to disburse or return funds meant for public projects.

The EDC responded to each point in each report and contended that, for the most part, the Comptroller's office was wrong. "The Comptroller, for whatever reason, enjoyed issuing audits with respect to EDC," said Seth Pinsky, who was then president of the economic development agency. "In most cases, those audits simply misunderstood the items they were reviewing."

"The EDC and Industrial Development Agency (which is under EDC) have been held up by third parties as models for transparency," Pinsky added. The EDC and Industrial Development Agency (IDA) are already subject to significant oversight and disclosure requirements from both the City and the State. IDA requirements include reports on annual investment, public authorities law reports, and a compliance report. The body is governed by a fifteen-member board comprised of mayoral appointees and appointees recommended by borough presidents and the Comptroller.

But the audits raise the larger question of possible lapses in projects funded by public revenue. Basically, are taxpayers receiving the benefits of investments being made by the city with their money?

"The City puts millions of dollars into economic development initiatives," said Garodnick, who will chair Thursday's oversight hearing. "We need to make sure we're getting the right bang for our buck."

The committee's agenda on Thursday will look at the EDC's parameters for success in allocations, the contractual obligations of fund recipients, and the protocols for monitoring project compliance.

"We took note of Comptroller Liu's audits and recommendations. We believe that he raised some legitimate issues to be pursued. Beyond that, we want to make sure we're getting what we need from our economic development investments," Garodnick added.

Tax benefits seem to be the keystone on which the committee has pegged its agenda of oversight. Over the last year, New York has begun to face increased competition from neighboring New Jersey, which has announced more than $1.5 billion in tax breaks as a means to attract investment and recover from the aftereffects of the recession. Making matters worse for New York is a complicated tax structure in the state (New York State was ranked last on the 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index compiled by the Tax Foundation, an independent research body).

This perhaps makes City incentives a necessity. "Incentives are one of the issues in economic development nationally," said Pinsky, who now works at RXR Realty. "It's another form of public investment in a project."

But there are those who question the advantages. "We should be skeptical of tax incentives," said Scott Drenkard, economist and manager of state projects for the Tax Foundation. "They lead to higher rates for collecting the same revenue. The way New York and New Jersey should start competing more is through broad-based tax cuts which level the playing field for all businesses."

Akin to the Council's intentions, Drenkard stressed that there needs to be a continual eye on requirements for businesses and robust tax expenditure reports. "They're hollowing out the tax base and foregoing revenue. They should know the size of that hole they're creating," he added.

The bottom line is whether the EDC works or not. Something that Garodnick is sure to get at in his questioning, especially of the tax subsidies expert from EDC who is expected to testify.

"There's always room for improvement," said Pinsky. "But it is an incredibly successful economic development agency and multiple large jurisdictions are trying to replicate its success."

Current City Comptroller Scott Stringer also seems encouraged by the direction the EDC is taking while stressing the need for accountability. "Oversight of all city agencies is necessary for the function of government, but it is critically important in any tax incentive program," he said. "EDC has taken some positive steps over the last year towards transparency, including participating in the Comptroller's Checkbook NYC," he added, referring to the City's online platform for data dissemination through which contracts, vendor details, and disbursements by the EDC are now available to the public.

The EDC, within its limited mandate, can provide tax breaks for budding and established businesses, but tax policy at large is set in Albany. On that front, Governor Andrew Cuomo has enacted tax reform, including cuts in the corporate rate structure and simplification of filing procedures. These are indicators, according to Drenkard of the Tax Foundation, that the state's tax climate will improve in coming years.

John Liu said he will attend the committee's hearing but will not testify - he is bringing a group of his Columbia University students with him who are enrolled in his municipal finance class. A representative for the EDC said they would comment at the hearing.

***
by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@SamarKhurshid

Note: this article has been corrected to reflect that John Liu is bringing students from Columbia, not Baruch.

Council Member Vacca at a council hearing (photo: William Alatriste) 

NEW YORK—There have been few pieces of city council legislation that the de Blasio administration has testified directly against, but on Wednesday, that mold was broken.

The Council's technology committee held on Wednesday the first hearing on Intro. 471, which would create an online platform where New Yorkers can start and sign petitions aimed at receiving a government response. Similar to the We the People site created by the White House, once a certain number of signatures is reached on the city platform, a city agency or public authority would be required to issue a response.

Council Member James Vacca, who introduced the legislation and chairs the technology committee, said the platform would give New Yorkers a place to discuss and introduce policy ideas to their government, something the city's 311 service isn't really designed to do.

The idea behind the bill is to give city government a new pathway to digital civic engagement, something the de Blasio administration says is a priority, and something this bill has the potential to do. But the de Blasio administration is not lending its support to this bill.

"In 2014, a government-sponsored petition tool is a waning model in the age of direct engagement," Jessica Singleton, digital director for New York City, said during her testimony Wednesday. "While we greatly appreciate the intent of this bill, we do not believe it to be the most effective model to achieve its goals."

Singelton said her department, NYC Digital, is focused on more one-on-one engagement, including increased social media presence for city agencies, and the use of SMS codes to send New Yorkers text message updates. She also noted the Mayor's Office of Correspondence aims to respond to every letter sent to the mayor—via email or handwritten—in a timely manner.

Singleton cited We the People as a prime example of a failed attempt of a government-sponsored petition site. She said the site has "become a dumping ground" where frivolous or unsound petitions are made and "very few have spurred specific action beyond a single response."

Sites like Change.org and Moveon.org, which are privately owned, are much more popular petition sites. But the reason seems to have less to do with the sites themselves and more with the resources (both monetary and human) put into the efforts. (Read further analysis on the issue here)

"I think the government-sponsored petition model that we have seen with the White House fell short because there isn't the supporting digital infrastructure to organize people to return day in and day out," Singleton said, adding that list development is an important component to the success of petition sites. "That is not something that this bill provides for and a government-sponsored petition enable."

While those resources may be the key to a successful platform, the question becomes should the same entity in charge of making policy also provide the resources by which to voice concern about the policy.

"Government controlling too much of the process might open up the decision-making to possible manipulation to serve a predetermined outcome," Rachael Fauss, director of public policy at Citizens Union, said in her written testimony.

As the law is written, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) would be responsible for setting the number of signatures needed to get a government response to a petition. There are no protections to prevent DoITT from changing the threshold on a whim, without public input. In January, without any warning, We the People changed its minimum requirement from 25,000 to 100,000 signatures, drastically reducing the number of petitions that would evoke a response.

Fauss suggested the Public Advocate's office be involved in developing the rules and policies as well as overseeing the implementation and compliance (as the law is written, all of this falls on DoITT). Vacca said he did not support the involvement of the Public Advocate's office, saying oversight should fall on the Council.

David Moore of Ask Them, an online petitioning platform run by the non-profit Participatory Politics Foundation, lent his support for the bill, but also echoed the need for proper enforcement.

"Without this strong enforcement mechanism, the platform may lose public trust and momentum," Moore said in his written testimony.

While Vacca and the de Blasio administration appear to be miles apart on this bill, Vacca is hopeful he can get the administration to engage in negotiations to get the bill passed. As of right now only three Council members are signed on to support the bill (Vacca, Peter Koo, and Annabel Palma).

When asked if he would be open to an agency other than DoITT handling the implementation of the online platform as part of the compromise, Vacca said he would be open to the idea.

Despite the firm opposition from the administration, Vacca appeared optimistic the bill would pass.

"I've been told no firmly before and I've seen how they can transcend into maybes and then yes, so I'd like to get there," Vacca said.

***
by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

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

US District Attorney Preet Bharara (photo: @SDNYnews)

Preet Bharara smirks a lot. And you might too if you were him.

The United States District Attorney's sharp wit, which he deploys regularly, along with his powerful position and track record of high-profile indictments, provides cause for a knowing, confident air about him. At public appearances, Bharara often wears a look that those on the receiving end of his work would surely call smug - or worse - but brings reciprocal smiles to the faces of those who see him as a white knight.

The crowd of well-dressed New York business and civic leaders who gathered on Tuesday morning for a Crain's New York Business forum featuring Bharara appeared an impressed, captive audience. Unlike many others Bharara has dealt with, though, they were free to leave when he was done with them.

As Bharara, who is rumored to be on the list of candidates to be the next U.S. Attorney General, spoke for about twenty minutes and then answered questions from two moderators for another thirty, he repeatedly flashed his disarming sense of humor right alongside no-nonsense talk about rooting out corruption. The Bharara routine, during which he comes across wholly at ease, goes something like: clever remark, half-smile, straighten up, talk tough (and smart). Repeat.

While they only accounted for a portion of his remarks, Bharara's comments on Tuesday about government corruption, specifically that which is committed by those who work in Albany, had a special sense of I'm-not-done-with-you-yet.

Whether he was discussing financial institutions, the criminal justice system, or politics and government, Bharara hit on the theme of cultures of corruption and the need for institutional leaders to prevent them from forming. "We do a lot of political corruption cases, public corruption cases," he said, adding, "You have a culture problem in some places in the political sphere...whether it's in Albany, and there was a time in the City Council, hopefully that's a little better now."

And then the Bharara smirk. He was referring, of course, to his own handy-work in prosecuting corrupt members of the New York City Council.

However many cases he has made, Bharara has repeatedly argued that he and his merry band of prosecutors can't do all the cleaning up of politics that's needed.

"I say all the time," he implored, "that these are not problems that prosecutors alone can solve." Bharara argued that policy-makers, as urged by the public, must make the real change.

He did say, though, that when prosecutors have turned up enough cases, "a byproduct of our work" is that it can cause "commissions to be established," and, in trademark Bharara fashion, "however long they remain in existence." Referring here, of course, to the short-lived Moreland Commission on Public Corruption that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo established and then disbanded just nine months later.

Bharara's office is now continuing investigations that Moreland began, along with new investigations of Cuomo's potential obstruction of the commission's work and influence over the public relations spin in its aftermath.

On Tuesday, Bharara reiterated that he felt it was essential to pick up on the work begun by Moreland and that it is indeed ongoing. "For a period of nine months or so a bunch of work has been done and you don't want that work to go into the dustbin of history or down the drain," he explained of his mindset. "And so the commissioners, basically the two remaining chairs, asked us to take all the files and we did, and we're working on them and we're working on them in our own time and not according to anyone else's political timetable or schedule." A statement he made with a completely straight face.

Bharara explained on Tuesday that he sees significant problems with New York law that are contributing to all of the state's political ethics issues. He outlined the need for more regulation of lawmakers' ability to earn outside income in addition to their government salaries and the need for stricter disclosure rules and rules enforcement.

"After thinking about this for a long time, especially in recent months," he said, there is a "really serious problem" with "the influence of outside money and the way in which people can be associated with outside firms in a way that makes it very difficult to figure out what they're getting for that pay when they're otherwise legislators and supposed to be answering only to the people of their district and their state."

He went on to say there "should be a no-tolerance policy" regarding violations of disclosure requirements related to outside income (and, presumably, conflicts of interest).

"It is a very difficult thing for prosecutors like us and in other parts of the state to figure out what's illicit money and what's not illicit money," Bharara said. "And on top of that, when you have a disclosure problem where people are not disclosing in a way that they should, I think that's a real problem that should worry everyone."

Bharara told a story of speaking with an Indian journalist in town to cover the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - events around which Bharara wryly noted he had not been invited to attend, sort-of-grinning as he said the invitations must have been lost in the mail.

Talking about public corruption in India with the journalist, Bharara said that the reporter told him "there's a law in India whereby if you can show that a public official has disproportionate assets you can put them in jail." He recounted further explanation from the journalist: "The law is if you are a public servant and you make X dollars in official salary, but they can show you have a lot more money in the bank, you can go to prison for that."

To which Bharara said he replied, "Wow, if we had a law like that here (pause) that would not solve our prison overcrowding problem," and laughter filled the room.

That is until Bharara sharply said, "Public corruption is a problem everyone should care about. This issue, joking aside, of outside money, I think is a big problem. I think that the United States Congress does a better job of it because it is very difficult to be an outside consultant or outside lawyer and have all this outside income if you're in the United States Congress because the ethics laws are different [from New York's]."

Without even a hint of a smile, Bharara was sure to drive home his key point related to political corruption: "We can cause people to pay attention, we can cause voters to care about these issues," he said of himself and his fellow prosecutors, "but we're not policy-makers, we're not going to solve these problems."

***
by Ben Max, Executive Editor, Gotham Gazette
@TweetBenMax

Council members announce major expansion of PB (photo: pbnyc.org)

The New York City Council website got a small, but significant upgrade on Tuesday, one that makes getting information about Participatory Budgeting a little easier.

The council home page now has a dedicated Participatory Budgeting (PB) tab where visitors can click to see general information on the process and constituents can find out if their council member is running the PB program.

The FAQ page was launched earlier this year, but now the council site includes an events page which lists all PB events by district. Citizens can also sign up to receive email updates or volunteer as a budget delegate, meeting facilitator, or interpreter, or to help with outreach.

This fiscal year, 24 council members will run Participatory Budgeting in their districts, up from four when the Council first adopted the practice in 2011. PB allows members of the community to choose how to spend roughly $1 million in capital discretionary funding on things like computers for schools, cameras in public housing, or parks improvements. This year the Council will allocate over $25 million to PB projects in total.

Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito was among the first group of four Council members to use PB (prior to her becoming Speaker) and has embraced the practice as an effective way to engage the community in the budget process.

"Participatory Budgeting is a priority for this Council and we're excited by the new website which will help people better navigate and participate in the process," council spokesperson Eric Koch said by email.

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by Kristen Meriwether, Gotham Gazette
@MeriwetherK

Red Hook in the aftermath of Sandy (photo: Vanessa Bertozzi (CC license))

 High-Risk Neighborhoods of Red Hook, Lower East Side Are Focus of Live Coverage, Climate Crowdsourcing

#AreYouClimateSafe 

TAKE THE SURVEY
Do you feel climate safe?

Our September 30 introduction to the project:

Streets and buildings flooded, power out, trains down, lives disrupted and taken. No, we're not talking about the effects of Superstorm Sandy two years ago. We're talking about New York's future, with the kind of extreme weather experts warn could hit the city in the years ahead.

Given the forecasts and the lessons of Sandy's massive impact, do residents in some of the most climate-vulnerable New York neighborhoods think they're any safer than when Sandy hit? Has the City made progress in fostering a more climate-safe New York?

To find out, we and a group of partners are launching a multi-faceted special project this week.

First, on Thursday morning, we plan to send teams of journalists to report in real time from two of New York's highest-risk neighborhoods - Red Hook in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Both communities were slammed during Sandy and are now bracing for more.

At the same time, we plan to launch a crowdsourcing initiative that will be asking all of you the same question: Do you believe you're safer?

The project is a joint reporting initiative between Gotham Gazette and AdaptNY, which covers how the city is adapting to climate risk, along with the independent non-profit environmental news outlet NY Environment Report, and more than 30 reporters from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

It's not the first time Gotham Gazette and AdaptNY have joined forces. Last year, we partnered on an investigative report highlighting the disconnect between the city's planners and some of its most vulnerable communities in the planning for greater climate resilience.

What's at risk for Red Hook, Lower East Side
Red Hook, home to Brooklyn's largest public housing complex and a mixture of businesses and industry, was inundated when Sandy hit, causing severe infrastructure damage and affecting thousands of residents. Many remained without power, heat, or running water for weeks. Because of its low-lying geography and climate-induced sea-level rise, Red Hook remains increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding.

The Lower East Side (LES) also felt Sandy's force, with more residential units affected there than in the rest of Manhattan combined. Many LES residents lived without power or access to basic utilities for four days after the storm, some for much longer. The area was also at Sandy's epicenter in another way, when nearly half of the two million New Yorkers who experienced outages in the hurricane's wake were left in the dark by the explosion of a ConEd substation on 14th Street.

Both neighborhoods remain similarly at risk for future flooding. So much so that the city plans a massive project to shore up a low-lying ring around southern Manhattan with 10 miles of dual-use parks, berms and protections - a $335 million plan known as the Big U.

Tell Us What You Think About Climate Safety
We're launching a two-pronged interactive effort to hear from New Yorkers directly.

Find out what residents and others in these communities think about their climate safety, especially relative to two years ago when Sandy hit. Track our live coverage from Red Hook and the Lower East Side on Thursday morning beginning at 10 a.m. EST.

We'll have rapid-fire reports, mutimedia interviews, maps, polls and more from both communities. Watch here for Red Hook coverage and watch here for Lower East Side coverage.

Meanwhile, you can also take part in the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by using the #AreYouClimateSafe hashtag.

We've also opened specific Facebook pages to foster more conversation. Join in on Red Hook - Are You Climate Safe? or Lower East Side - Are you Climate Safe?.

Second, beginning Thursday, we will invite you to take part in a crowdsourcing project that will run for two weeks following the live event, through Oct. 17. You can take a quick survey about climate safety in New York. And you can help create a mosaic of community sentiment about climate safety by sharing comments, photos, videos or soundbites. Stay tuned for more information.

Our special project will culminate during the week of Oct. 20 with a major overview to address the central question: Are we safer? That analysis will make extensive use of your contributions from our live reporting and the crowdsourcing projects and look into what progress the City has made with its own climate resiliency planning process, particularly for these vulnerable communities.

So, sign up now on the live event pages - Red Hook and/or Lower East Side - for email reminders of the coverage launch. And watch for news about our survey and news developments in the coming days.

***
This report prepared by David Gershgorn, Eric Levitz, Derek Scancarelli and Marguerite Ward

Sandy flooding on the Lower Easy Side (photo: John Minchillo/AP)

 #AreYouClimateSafe 

TAKE THE SURVEY
Do you feel climate safe?