Gotham Gazette

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Open Government

Honoring Nixzmary's Memory By Avoiding A Panicked Response


Recently a brother and sister got into a scuffle at the office of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, where I am the executive director. It was nothing serious, just play fighting. But the mother broke it up by saying, "God forbid that one of you get a mark on you and someone sees it!"

I work with parents who at one time or another have lost their children to foster care, and they are once again living with a fear that such families last felt a decade ago.

As soon as they, and I, saw the sensationalized press coverage about the death of seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown, we were afraid the progress made in the last few years would unravel, due to subsequent political pressure.

It was in January, 1996, in the aftermath of the death the previous month of six-year-old Elisa Izquierdo, that the city reorganized and renamed the relevant city agency, calling it the Administration for Children’s Services, and making as part of its mission statement the policy that any ambiguity regarding a child’s safety would be resolved by removing the child from his or her home.

In the two years following the new agency’s inception, there was an increase of about 50 percent in the removal of children from their families. At the same time, since then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani believed that overzealous efforts to preserve families contributed to Elisa’s death, he slashed preventive services by 18 percent. Preventive services are anything provided to a family to help make it unnecessary to remove a child, such as housing, food stamps or day care.

Child neglect became criminalized during that time. Low-income mothers were arrested and prosecuted for offenses that were basically the result of being poor -- such as leaving their child alone while they worked in a sweat shop or living in “substandard housing” that was actually city housing.

Having worked in preventive services and seeing firsthand how much it can accomplish, I believe that many of the parents who had children removed in the 1990’s could have had it handled in a way that would better serve the long-term interest of their children.

Of course, none of us at the Child Welfare Organizing Project felt that parents who mistreat their children should be molly-coddled, and I’m not saying that parents whose kids were removed back then were totally blameless. Many needed help and many made mistakes. Some who had substance abuse issues truly were not in a place where they could take care of their children.

But we also felt that the Administration for Children’s Services was oversimplifying the issue. We knew that families caught up in the system were much more complex than the way they were being handled. And reflexively removing children tends to weaken and destroy the bonds in families that are fragile to begin with. It permanently undermines the parents' authority and the children's faith in their parents' ability to protect them. And many of the children who have been in care for any length of time have experienced abuse in their foster homes, often far in excess of what their parents were accused of.

We invited those parents to share their experiences. Theirs was a perspective to which nobody had paid attention. Eventually they were speaking to professionals in the child welfare system and in other venues where their voices had previously not been heard. The child welfare system became aware that birth parents were not criminals, but complicated people leading challenging lives, often struggling with issues related to being poor.

Things began to change in the direction for which we at the Child Welfare Organizing Project had hoped. The Administration for Children’s Services became less ideologically driven -- subscribing neither to the ideology of “when in doubt, remove the child,” or the equally extreme “preserve families at all costs.” It moved closer to taking into account the actual, individual needs of specific children and their families.

The number of kids going into foster care decreased and the city reinvested in preventive services. The number of kids known to the Administration for Children’s Services who died annually did not increase, as some feared it would.

But now the fear is that all the publicity and public outcry around Nixmary is bringing us back to the time where a birth parent was an object of suspicion, and all the progress made is in danger of being lost.

The birth parents who work at CWOP are also afraid on a much more visceral level. They know that once a parent has had a kid in foster care, that parent is much more likely to lose that kid again, because of that history.

Since Nixmary’s death, whenever a school teacher or guidance counselor calls a parent at CWOP, and I hand the phone to them, I see their hearts leaping to their throats. They’re wondering what has happened that could have resulted in a call to ACS.

There are definite signs that a panic like the one a decade ago is underway. There is reportedly a 30 percent increase in protective removals already this month so far, compared to January 2005. Meanwhile, our phone at CWOP hasn’t stopped ringing. We are trying to ride out this media frenzy and use it to make the points we want made. We hope to introduce parents’ testimony at the forthcoming city council and state assembly hearings. We want people to be aware of how parents are experiencing this, and why the Administration for Children’s Services should be very careful in how they respond.

The changes that the mayor recently announced were largely to add staff and money. The workers are supposed to respond more energetically to abuse complaints. These changes do not in themselves mean the agency will be any more likely to remove children from their families.

We believe that the best way to honor Nixzmary’s memory is not by going back to a time when the Administration for Children’s Services was just one more threat to family life in poor communities, but by continuing to change the system for the better.

Mike Arsham is executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project  

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2006 State of the City Address


The following is the text of Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the City Address as prepared at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island:

Thank you, Jeanne.

Borough President Molinaro, thank you for hosting us here in beautiful Staten Island, the place that -- unbeknownst to the press -- has been my real island get-away over the past four years.

Comptroller Thompson, Public Advocate Gotbaum; Borough Presidents; Members of the Council with special congratulations to the new Council Speaker, Christine Quinn; and all the distinguished officials and honored guests with us today: Welcome.

Looking around at all of the elected officials and community leaders in this theater, I see faces with family roots in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean. I see Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, gay and straight, immigrant and native–born. I see New York!

The diversity of our city -- and its leadership -- gives us incredible strength. And over the past four years, as God knows, we have needed every ounce of it. After starting this decade at the peak of an economic boom, we soon tumbled into the darkest of valleys. Since then, against all the odds, our city has climbed back up that mountain – faster than anyone thought possible. We didn’t do it by putting political interests ahead of the public’s interests. We didn’t do it by leaving the most vulnerable behind. And we didn’t do it as Republicans or Democrats. We did it together as New Yorkers. And because we did, today, all five boroughs are reaching heights that we’ve never before known: in safety, education, health care, economic development. In every area, the State of our City today is united and stronger than ever!

As we look ahead to 2006 and beyond, we recognize that this is a special moment for New York. We can sit back and let the power of the moment wane. Or, we can grab hold of it and set New York on the road to long-term strength, stability, and success so that when the tough times return – and they always do – we will be better prepared to meet them than ever before.

CAMPAIGN PROMISES

Fellow New Yorkers: such a future is now within our reach. I believe that the unity we’ve achieved, born of tragedy, but nurtured by our common dreams, can lead us to great achievements that no one imagined possible just four years ago. During the last campaign, I proposed more than 100 initiatives that will keep New York moving forward. Have I forgotten those promises? Not one. Will I honor them? You better believe it. But we will do much more than keep our promises. We will keep pursuing new ideas and fresh approaches with more determination than ever, and with the same values and principles that have guided us here. We will use this moment to take on the most difficult long-term challenges for our children, and theirs.

I have pledged that in my second term, we would neither turn back, nor hold back. And today, you’ll hear exactly how we’re going to do that. I’m going to lay out a blueprint for New York’s future in all the key areas of our City’s life: jobs and the economy, housing and parks, health and human services, education and public safety, financial security, and government integrity.

JOBS AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Let’s start with the challenge of creating the jobs New Yorkers need today, and the jobs our children will need tomorrow. In 2005, New York City's unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent, the lowest level since 2000, but we're not stopping there. I've set a goal of creating 250,000 new private sector jobs over the next five years-- and to make sure that all communities have access to them. To do it, we’re going to invest in economic development projects, make New York the most business-friendly city in the nation, and encourage growing industries.

This year, an extraordinary range of projects will leap off the drawing boards – creating jobs, revitalizing the waterfront, and bringing new life to communities in every borough. At the Homeport here on Staten Island, we’ll break ground on a waterfront esplanade and take the first major steps toward creating a great place to live, work, and play.

In Brooklyn, construction workers will put shovels in the ground at Atlantic Yards, the most exciting housing, commercial, and sports development in Brooklyn’s history.

In both the South Bronx and Flushing, the Yankees and Mets will break ground on new stadiums – and then meet in a seven-game Subway Series! (We can dream, can't we?)

But that’s just the beginning. Just west of Yankee Stadium, we’ll start construction at the long-neglected Bronx Terminal Market. And, just east of the stadium, we’ll begin building at the Hub, finally realizing its extraordinary potential. Together, these projects will become the first major retail and commercial development in the South Bronx in decades.

In Flushing, we’ll start construction on a $500 million project to create 2,000 jobs and revitalize the heart of downtown. And just west of there in Willets Point, we’ll select a developer to begin turning the Iron Triangle into a community jewel -– with parks, jobs, and housing.

In Jamaica, we’ll begin one of the largest re-zonings in decades, creating the conditions for a vibrant transportation-oriented business district that capitalizes on the AirTrain and its connection to Kennedy Airport, while at the same time protecting the character of the residential neighborhood.

On Manhattan’s East Side, work will begin on the new East River Science Park, which will create 2,500 biotech jobs. On the West Side, we’ll start digging a tunnel to extend the Seven Train, spurring development of a thriving new residential and commercial neighborhood. We’ll also move ahead on two badly needed projects: the Javits Center expansion, and on the Hudson, a modernized cruise ship terminal.

Nearby, we’ll begin work on one of the most innovative park projects in the world: the High Line. And, across the island, we will begin reshaping the East River Waterfront.

Over in Brooklyn, we’ll fully open a new cruise ship terminal in Red Hook, which will become home to the Queen Mary II and 600 new jobs. Also, along the Brooklyn waterfront, the Port Authority will turn over Piers 1 through 5 – and the City will contribute Pier 6 – to the Brooklyn Bridge Development Corporation – something the community has been dreaming about for 20 years!

To make sure that all of these projects move forward on schedule and on budget, we have created a new Office of Capital Project Development in City Hall, which will work with all of our public and private partners. And when we say we're going to build something, it's not just a photo-op -- we're really going to build it! And this office will be the central command center to insure that.

GROUND ZERO

Most importantly of all, this year, as we push forward on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, we need to push aside individual financial interests and focus on what’s best for our city. That means it’s time to pick up the pace of commercial construction, and to build for uses that reflect the realities of the market and the needs of Lower Manhattan –like the retail development that’s so crucial to linking the site back into the life of the city.

We can do this if Silverstein Properties is willing to do the right thing – and hand off responsibility for building Towers 3 and 4, in exchange for a reduction of its rent. And we can do it if the Port Authority commits to occupying one of the towers and working quickly to identify a developer for the other, so that all projects can proceed simultaneously at the same, quick pace. Such re-negotiations between the Port Authority and Silverstein Properties must not wait. The time to reach agreement is now. We can not allow the Trade Center to be a construction site for the next 15 years, which the current plan all but ensures it will be!

If we immediately start building retail stores along with a commercial, residential, and hotel mix – Lower Manhattan will become one of the most energetic and exciting neighborhoods in New York. We need this now, to advance our economy and pay tribute to those who died there –not a decade and a half in the future, when it fits a developer's financial plan!

Three years ago, we presented our vision for revitalizing Lower Manhattan as exactly that kind of vibrant, 24/7 community. Since then, we’ve advanced every element of that vision – investing in parks, housing, schools, and streetscapes. Now, we’re also going to extend it to one of our most valuable assets: Governors Island. We will select a specific plan for the future of Governors Island that makes the most of its spectacular location, beauty, and history. We believe that by taking all of these steps, the next four years will see the rebirth of Lower Manhattan as the world’s financial capital and as a thriving residential, retail, and waterfront community.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

Lower Manhattan is a cornerstone in our blueprint for the future, but we cannot allow its volatile financial markets to be the sole foundation of our economic health. In 2006, not only will we get major economic development projects off the ground in all five boroughs, we’ll take a major step toward our goal of making New York the most business friendly city in the nation. By the end of this year, we’re going to launch “Business Express,” a web site where small business owners can set up personal accounts and get the help they need to start and grow their businesses.

Creating the conditions for small businesses to thrive also means supporting the growing industries that many of them capitalize on, industries like retail, film & television, and tourism. We’ve just had our best tourism year on record, with 41 million visitors to our city. This year, NYC & Company expects that number to climb to 43 million. But we must, and we will, do even better.

Over the past four years, we’ve created new partners for NYC and Company: NYC Marketing, and NYC Big Events. Now they’ll work more closely together to create the best marketing and promotion effort serving any city in the world. And to support this, we’re going to commit an additional $15 million annually – nearly tripling the city’s investment, so that we can compete with cities like Las Vegas that spend far more than we do to attract tourists and the jobs they create. With this bigger and better marketing strategy, we will set a new goal called “50 by 15,” 50 million visitors annually by the year 2015.

To help accommodate our growing number of visitors, we’ll soon announce a comprehensive plan to protect our city’s great hotels and encourage investment in new hotels. The plan will embody the new spirit of labor-management cooperation we helped forge to rescue the Plaza and hundreds of jobs. The biggest draw for tourists, and the greatest competitive advantage that New York has over every other city, can be found right here, at all of our world-class cultural institutions and entertainment venues. That’s why we’ve dramatically increased capital funding for arts organizations in every borough.

This year, the 30th Anniversary of our City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, we will help unveil a number of exciting projects, including a new performing arts center at Harlem’s Aaron Davis Hall, and a beautiful new wing at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. And – I know this will be a favorite with many here today– the Staten Island Zoo will open its long-awaited Reptile Wing!

To make sure that all communities have access to the jobs we’re creating in so many different industries, we’ve worked hard to level the playing field for women-and minority-owned businesses. In the months ahead, as a result of our close collaboration with the City Council, we’ll establish explicit purchasing goals at every City agency for women- and minority-owned businesses.

We’ll also begin to see the results from our Commission on Construction Opportunity, and let me tell you – early indications are incredibly promising. For example, next Monday, men and women who have had difficulty finding steady employment will start a six-month job training and union apprentice program to begin preparing them for careers in construction. And our Workforce One job training centers will place a record 15,000 people in jobs over the next 12 months.

FIVE-BOROUGH STRATEGIC LAND USE PLAN

Making sure that every community shares in the New York we are building also requires us to look to the future –and plan for the future – in ways we haven’t dared in decades.

In April, I will present the results of a sweeping inter-agency, five-borough Strategic Land Use plan that examines all of our City’s neighborhoods and their needs for the 21st Century, focusing particularly on housing, transportation, energy, and infrastructure – including parks. This year, here in “the borough of parks,” Staten Island, we will begin to turn what was once the world’s largest landfill into a beautiful expanse more than twice the size of Central Park. We’ll also add substantial acreage to Staten Island’s “bluebelt” conservation system.

Historically, there was almost no coordinated planning to protect Staten Island’s quality of life. As a result, as everyone here knows, overdevelopment became a major problem, and traffic went from bad to worse. We are going to confront the problem of traffic with the very same vigor we used attacking overdevelopment. Using the work of the Growth Management Task Force as a model, we will take decisive steps to improve the flow of traffic on Staten Island.

I have asked my Transportation and City Planning commissioners to report back to the Growth Management Task Force in 60 days with a package of initiatives designed to address Staten Island's growing congestion. And to improve traffic flow in all five boroughs, we will launch a new program called "Take Back the Streets," to crack down on construction contractors that illegally tear them up. And, to ensure that when public utilities fix the streets, we hold them accountable for making sure they stay fixed!

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

When we talk about quality of life, we also need to talk about affordability. New York’s future depends on our ability to make sure that middle and working class families can afford to live here. That’s why we fought for the $400 property tax rebate. That’s why we will issue it again this year. It’s why I will be asking the State Legislature to extend the rebates for the remainder of my term. And it’s why we are creating the most ambitious affordable housing initiative in New York City history!

Over the past four years, we’ve funded the construction and rehabbing of nearly 50,000 affordable houses in all five boroughs. But that is only the beginning. Next week, when I release our preliminary budget, it will fund our $7.5 billion plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing in New York City by the year 2013. Three-fourths of that housing will be started or finished by the end of this term, and many of the units will be for the middle class. Over the next 12 months, we’ll put another 15,000 units of affordable housing into production. We’ll break ground on the first new mid- and high-rise co-ops and condos to go up in the South Bronx in a generation, and on the next phase of more than 500 Nehemiah homes being developed at Spring Creek in Brooklyn.

To make sure that the benefits of our affordable housing program are shared with city workers, who do so much to keep our city healthy and strong, we’ve introduced a five percent preference for them in our housing lotteries. This year, we’ll also help more of our city’s brave veterans achieve the dream of home ownership by giving them a 30 percent preference for homes taken in foreclosure by the federal government and that are now being restored by the City and our partners. These men and women have risked everything to defend us, and I’m honored that several have joined us today. I ask them now to stand so that we can thank them for their service to our nation, and the sacrifices they have made protecting our freedom.

PROTECTING CHILDREN

We’ve got obligations to other New Yorkers, too, particularly our children, and especially those who are at-risk of abuse. Our Administration for Children’s Services has come so far over the past ten years, but we know we have not come far enough. We must respond to every child’s case with an unflinching sense of urgency. Two days ago, I announced $16 million in new initiatives that will improve oversight, ease caseloads, and ensure coordination among all city agencies. We are taking every possible step to seal up the cracks so that no child can slip through them. The death of Nixzmary Brown will long be remembered in New York as a terrible tragedy, but I am determined to see that her death will not be in vain.

I promise you we will do everything we can to protect innocent children from suffering at the hands of abusers. As we focus on protecting our children, we will also do more to tackle the myriad of issues that prevent too many in our city from fully enjoying its opportunities. In a few weeks, we’ll break ground on a new citywide intake center for homeless families that will replace the old Emergency Assistance Unit and the failure it represents.

REDUCING POVERTY

This year, we’ll also launch our Integrated Human Services System, a secure, online information and application system for all those who receive Food Stamps, public health insurance, and other benefits. Today, the number of New Yorkers on welfare is at a 40-year-low, but this year, we’re going to do more than ever to give people the opportunity to live lives of independence and dignity.

To make sure that welfare recipients receive the training and education they need to hold jobs, we’re launching a new “Back-to-Work” initiative that connects case-load contractors and the training and education services they provide to every job center in the city. If contractors don’t help their clients find and hold jobs, it’s simple: They won’t be paid. Because beginning this year, all contracts will be performance-based.

Even though we have become a national leader in promoting welfare-to-work, our great city remains home to the nation’s poorest congressional district – the 16th in the South Bronx. And that has been true for too long. Men and women struggling to get out of poverty deserve our help – and so do their children. Our nation has learned by experience that we cannot eliminate poverty by throwing money at the problem. But our city has shown that problems once thought to be beyond hope: dangerous streets, failing schools, chronic homelessness –can be turned around, if we target our resources where they are needed most, if we set measurable goals, and if we hold ourselves accountable.

Today I am committing to a major reduction in the number of children, women and men who live in poverty in this city over the next four years. To that end, this year, we’ll launch a public-private task force – modeled on our task force to end chronic homelessness – that will attack chronic unemployment and poverty in the homes and neighborhoods where the need is greatest. We’ll launch our first pilot programs in three communities where the problems have long been entrenched – Bushwick, Melrose, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. I have asked Richard Parsons, CEO of Time Warner, and Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of The Harlem Children's Zone, to serve as co-chairs of our new task force. They have agreed to work with me to develop and implement our strategy, identify the most important measurements, and make sure that we refuse to accept failure.

Geoffrey is here with us today, and I want to thank him and Richard for joining me in taking on such an important challenge.

HEALTH CARE

Attacking poverty also means making sure all people receive the quality health care they deserve. And I am pleased to be working with a City Council Speaker who is as passionate about improving public health as I am. Over the past four years, we’ve created the nation’s finest public hospital system. This year, we’re going to launch a revolution in our community health clinics. We’ll ask Albany, Washington, and the private sector to join us in investing $100 million to create secure electronic health records in our community clinics, and in the offices of doctors who practice in our poorest neighborhoods. This will reduce preventable illnesses. It will save millions of dollars a year now wasted on needless procedures. And it will make us the national leader in providing high-quality health care to those most in need.

Compared to four years ago, there are one million more New Yorkers currently enrolled in public health insurance programs, many of them children. Now, we’re going to begin an unprecedented campaign to improve the health of our children by working to ensure that virtually every school student has health insurance -– a mark that no other city has ever achieved. We’ll work with the city’s primary and secondary schools to integrate public health insurance into their enrollment process, and with community health centers and all hospitals to make health insurance enrollment a key part of the discharge process.

We will also remain at the forefront of the war against AIDS. Over the next three years, our goal is to cut the number of HIV-related deaths by more than 40 percent. We believe we can achieve it by intensifying prevention, improving access to treatment, focusing on programs that actually deliver results, and by urging the State to pass legislation that makes it easier to find out your HIV status and enables us to reach out and offer to help patients get better care.

This year, we’ll also mount an aggressive campaign against the only major health problem in our city that is getting worse -- diabetes. It’s a vicious silent killer, and we’re going to start tracking it down and doing everything we can to control it. This year, when people take blood sugar tests, that information will go to the Health Department. And starting in the South Bronx, we’ll work with patients at high-risk and their doctors to improve the care they receive. Our goal is to reduce the number of New Yorkers at the highest risk for diabetes complications by 20 percent by the end of 2008. Public health is a fundamental responsibility of government, and we are going to do everything we can to help New Yorkers continue living longer lives.

EDUCATION

If we want New York to be the healthiest big city in America, we cannot succeed without continuing to restore the long-lost vitality of our schools. Over the past four years, we’ve taken major strides in providing our children with the education they will need to lead New York forward. Today, students are making record gains on their test scores, schools are safer, and the intolerable achievement gap that exists among different ethnic groups has begun to close. But we all know we have a long way to go.

In the fall, I proposed several major initiatives to take our reforms to the next level. We are charging ahead on each of them, and at the same time putting in place even more bold programs. First, this year we will begin creating more new schools, and new programs, that offer high school students additional routes to graduation, employment, and post-secondary education. Second, this September, we will open Brooklyn Latin, the first of seven new, top-flight, academically selective schools (This is just the type of school I could not have gotten into.)

Third, we will be a leading voice in the effort to lift the state’s cap on charter schools in New York City – so that we can create more options for communities that need them the most.

But we will do even more. This year, we will increase by 150 the number of schools in the “Autonomy Zone”. These schools will be empowered with greater freedom and flexibility and be held accountable for their results. We will begin directing at least $200 million more away from the bureaucracy and into the classrooms.

And today I am happy to announce that the Department of Education, together with NYU and CUNY and supported by $15 million from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, is launching the New York City Partnership for Teacher Excellence. The Partnership takes a new approach to teacher education. Aspiring teachers will spend a great deal of their time inside our public schools because there is no substitute for real world experience. We are confident that the Partnership will help us attract and retain more high quality teachers and prepare them for the hardest-to-staff subject areas, grade levels, and communities. CUNY Chancellor Matt Goldstein and NYU President John Sexton have joined us today, and I want to thank them for lining up their great universities behind this innovative program.

We're also making sure our teachers spend more quality time with students. Starting in less than two weeks teachers will spend an additional 150 minutes a week in small group instruction with struggling students and they will return to assignments in lunchrooms, school yards, and hallways -– something that hasn't been done in years.

But we also need our State officials to step to the front of the class and deliver the money we are owed as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. We need that money to build and maintain new facilities to provide more training for teachers and principals and to create more Pre-K programs throughout the city – ensuring that thousands more of our city’s kids arrive at kindergarten ready to learn. We need the money now and together we must continue fighting for it. Because it’s not just our school children who are being shortchanged, but the very future of our city.

CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY

Putting New York on the road to long-term success in all of the areas I’ve spoken about today rests on our ability to continue making the safest big city in America even safer. Public safety is the foundation of our city’s prosperity. Over the last four years, the NYPD has cut crime by more than 20 percent. Today, our city is safer than it has been in more than four decades.

Now, people ask: How low can crime go? No one knows the answer, but we’re going to continue doing everything we can to find out.

This year, we’re going to expand “Operation Trident” – which splits precincts to attack stubborn crime problems. Last year, in the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn. Operation Trident reduced crime by more than twice the citywide average. Now, we’re going to take it to the 44th and 46th Precincts in the South Bronx. We’re going to identify new locations to target as part of Operation Clean Sweep so that we continue gaining ground in our campaign to improve New York’s quality of life. We will also expand our cutting-edge Real Time Crime Center so its data can be used to solve not only murder cases, but other serious crimes. And we will complete construction of the most sophisticated forensic DNA laboratory in the nation, which will have the capacity to test evidence not only from sex crimes and homicides, but from any crime.

But even as our city leads the nation in analyzing DNA from crime scenes, our State is way behind the nation in collecting DNA from convicted offenders. Forty-three other states require DNA samples from all convicted felons. We are not one of them and make no mistake: People are dying because of it. This year, we will urge the State Legislature to pass a law mandating the collection of DNA samples for all criminal convictions. This is the single best way to catch offenders before they become serial offenders, as well as to exonerate the innocent. Let's hold the State Legislature accountable for doing it, and let's also challenge them to abolish the statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault cases where there is DNA evidence, so that these vile criminals are punished whenever they are caught.

By now, you know that I never mince words about the urgent threat that illegal guns pose to our everyday lives. Let me describe exactly how we will turn up the heat against all those who menace our streets by carrying or selling illegal guns. This year we will marshal all of our resources and work with all of our partners in public service –- whether they are across the rotunda in City Hall up in Albany or in big cities across the nation -– both to root out and punish these criminals and to stop the flow of illegal guns into our city

First, every felony gun defendant will be thoroughly de-briefed either by the Police Department’s elite Gun Suppression Squad that we are now forming or by district attorneys, or in many cases, by both. This will allow us to learn much more about where and how illegal guns are sold and by whom. Second, we will pilot new technology that uses microphones to instantly direct video cameras to the source of gun shots, ensuring that shooters are seen as well as heard. Third, we will continue using gun crimes to identify Impact Zones to crack down on shootings. Fourth, when gun offenders get re-arrested for any other crime –- theft or assault, for instance –- their cases will be red-flagged for prosecutors, judges, and probation and parole officers so that all law enforcement officials will know the threat these offenders pose.

As we marshal our resources to stiffen enforcement of existing laws, we will also ask our legislative partners to strengthen our laws. We will work with the City Council to enact a one-gun-every-three-months limit on purchases in New York City, and we will urge Albany to pass two pieces of critical legislation:

First, a Gun Offenders Registration Act – which would be a Megan’s Law for gun criminals. Like sex offenders, gun offenders present terrible risks for communities, and they should be required to regularly verify their addresses with the police. And second, a law to make criminal possession of a loaded gun a Class C felony with a three-year minimum jail sentence. There is simply no reason why judges should have the discretion to let criminals who carry loaded illegal guns get off the hook with probation. Illegal guns have one purpose: to kill. Period. End of story!

We will do more than ever to detect and punish gun offenders, but when more than eight of every ten guns used in crimes come from other states, we must reach across state lines.

And we will. Right now, about one percent of gun dealers account for almost 60 percent of guns used in crimes nationally. This year, we are going to launch lawsuits against these irresponsible dealers, and we are going to hold them accountable for the terrible damage their guns cause.

We will also reach out to elected officials in other states to discuss potential policy and legislative changes, and new ways of sharing information. In our conversations with our sister cities and states we will not seek solutions that infringe on the rights of gun owners but we will seek to move beyond the knee-jerk opposition that special interests invariably pose against even the most basic and common sense efforts to clamp down on illegal guns.

Getting tough on illegal guns is not a conservative or liberal issue. It’s an issue of law and order and an issue of life and death. Only a few miles from here Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin were viciously murdered nearly three years ago. They were conducting one of the buy-and-bust operations that police officers do every day to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. In the past four years, Detectives Patrick Rafferty, Robert Parker, Dillon Stewart, and Daniel Enchautegui all were gunned down in the line of duty. Today, I’m honored to say, we are joined by members of their families, and I’d ask them to stand.

To all the family members here with us today: We will never forget the debt we owe to your loved ones and to all the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice protecting us. But we will also never forget your sacrifice. And I make you this promise: I will never give in to those who accept the spread of illegal guns and their deadly consequences. Never. I will do whatever it takes –- in the memory of your sons, your husbands, your brothers, your fathers, and our brave heroes.

COUNTER-TERRORISM

Taking on the toughest public safety challenges means we must also confront any obstacle that stands in the way of our counter-terrorism efforts. Even though the NYPD is the most sophisticated counter-terrorism police force in the world, much of our transportation infrastructure – which we know has been targeted by terrorists in the past – is policed by the MTA and the Port Authority.

One of the most important lessons of 9/11 was the need for greater communication and integration among government agencies. This year, our Administration will work with the governors of New York and New Jersey – and the leaders of the Port Authority and MTA – to establish a security protocol for our city’s vital transportation infrastructure that is more integrated, accountable, and effective. And today, I am announcing that we will propose legislation, in New York and New Jersey, giving the city’s Police Commissioner a permanent seat on the MTA and PA boards to ensure that the NYPD has a voice in both agencies’ security planning, capital project planning, and incident command.

THE BUDGET

Building a more secure future requires us to take on the toughest long-term challenges wherever we find them – and we find several of them in the city’s budget. Over the past four years we have cut the city’s discretionary spending by almost $4 billion. But spending has continued to grow because our non-discretionary costs increased by $7 billion in the same period. These costs are continuing to soar and will result in ballooning deficits in the years ahead. And when bad economic times return – and they always do – those deficits will explode and New Yorkers will pay a heavy price, both in increased taxes and reduced services.

The only chance to avoid this is to correct the budget’s structural imbalances, and that means we must rein in health care and pension costs that have spiraled out of control. Today, nearly all private sector employees contribute to their health care and the few companies that continue to offer “defined benefit” pension plans are moving to “defined contribution” plans.

Our Administration has worked closely with labor leaders in the past, to create fair, long-term contracts. Moving forward we will work with them to reach agreements that include a provision that is familiar to most people: employee contributions for health care. At the same time, we will work with labor and legislative leaders on innovative pension modifications for future workers. Only by making the tough decisions today will we be able to finance the wage increases that our outstanding workforce will deserve tomorrow.

GOOD-GOVERNMENT REFORMS

Improving the long-term health of government also means strengthening its integrity. We need only look to the scandals in Washington to see what happens when lobbyists and campaign contributors create a culture of “pay-to-play.” Last week, many members of Congress proposed a ban on all gifts from lobbyists. We should do that here. And they proposed requiring lobbyists to file disclosure reports electronically. We should do that here, too. But most of all, let’s finally honor the “pay-to-play” referendum that voters overwhelmingly passed more than seven years ago!

This year, we will work together with the Campaign Finance Board to create an online database that will allow us to implement the referendum and strengthen the integrity of city government. When voters go to the polls, they should have no doubt that all the decisions they make will be respected.

And when they appear before a judge, they deserve to know that justice – not politics – will be served. This year, we will take an important step to improve our administrative tribunals – the places New Yorkers go when they contest a fine, a parking ticket, or a building code violation. We'll bind all of the city’s administrative judges to a code of ethics, just as the voters directed us to do in a public referendum in November. And I will also sign an executive order creating an Administrative Justice Coordinator to improve the workings of the tribunals so that all New Yorkers are treated justly.

Of course, reforming the election of judges is a more formidable task, but two weeks ago, we received an important sign that our reform efforts are paying off. I’m very pleased that Assemblyman Denny Farrell, Chairman of the State Democratic Party, has announced that he will urge all county organizations to adopt independent judicial screening panels that will select only the most qualified candidates so that we can end an election process that is too easily – and too often – corrupted. I wish Denny all the best, but reform should not be an issue for debate among the County chairs. It should be a matter of state law! It’s time to put an end to the backroom deals that should have died with Tammany Hall!

I think that’s a good point to end on today, because no matter what the issue – from judicial reform to education to poverty – we have the ability to make this city better for all who live here, but only if we put partisanship aside. This year and in the years ahead in every single area of this city, working together, we can lock in and extend our gains. We can take on the toughest issues and get results. And we can make sure that our success touches every block of every neighborhood so that our unity remains the rule not the exception.

This does not mean there will be no obstacles on the road ahead. There will be. But if we stay united, we’ve shown there is no obstacle large enough to stop us.

Jeanne Raleigh and Speaker Quinn, if you both will indulge me, I would like to conclude by saying to everyone here: “May that road rise up to meet us.” All of us. And let’s walk it together –- with hope, kindness and courage. Thank you, and God bless.

 

 

A Checkup for City Services


In New York City, a dead animal is picked up by the Department of Sanitation if it is on a street or sidewalk, by the Department of Transportation if it is on a highway, by Parks and Recreation if it is in a park, or by the New York City Police Department Marine Unit if it is in the water. If it's in your own home, it's your responsibility. That is not public property.

Dead animals suffered similar variable fates in Baltimore -- until city officials there determined that this was inefficient, costly and confusing. They came to this conclusion in 2000, thanks to something called CitiStat.

CitiStat is part of an approach to government that has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Officials in Baltimore collect statistical information about city services, analyse it, and then share it in meetings with the mayor and the heads of city agencies, where they compare notes and discuss how to fix problems. They have to answer to others when their agency is doing poorly, and they are rewarded when it succeeds.

It was during this process that the problem of animal disposal came up, and the officials decided that there had to be a better way. Now, when any animal dies in Baltimore, its carcass is most likely to be picked up by just one agency, the Department of Health, which got a bigger budget to do so.



A new approach to government accountability -- officially called "performance assessment" but more colloquially, compstatmania -- compiles, analyzes and interprets statistics in order to spot trends, gaps and overlaps in city services. It's not magic -- it's hard work, and follow-up. In this series, Gotham Gazette looks at this approach to improving city services.

That is just one example of the success of a system that could come to New York. A bill, introduced last year by City Councilmember Eric Gioia, would establish CityStat NY, modeled after Baltimore. One of the keys would be data -- collecting, reporting, analyzing, mapping and making it public. It might seem like a topic that only an egghead could love. But data gathered together into report cards about how well a city government agency is performing -- at say, delivering food to the hungry, or finding homes for foster kids -- could prove useful to many New Yorkers.

Call it Compstatmania; it is no exaggeration to say that this approach to city services -- an approach that many would say began in New York City -- has become a national movement. At the very least, such an approach shows how an agency spends its money and how it measures up to its prior performance. But the data can also be sorted and picked apart, analyzed and made into charts, graphs and maps to identify trends, gaps and overlaps in city services -- which, if followed up, would result in improved service to the public.

Centuries Of Record Collecting; The Mayor's Management Report

New York City has been collecting "data" since the early 1600s; the Municipal Archives on Chambers Street is awash in centuries' worth of office records, manuscripts, images, vital records, maps, blueprints, and photographs -- from 1939 to 1941, the city snapped pictures of every single building in all five boroughs, as a tool for property tax appraisals. The City Hall Library has been collecting the budgets, reports, procedures and meeting minutes of city agencies and officials since 1913.

One could date the modern era of slicing and dicing and disseminating this data to 1977, when Mayor Ed Koch released the first annual Mayor's Management Report. Preliminary findings laid out in January and a final report every September provide statistics and information about dozens of city government agencies. The report lists how many potholes are filled, the average cost of housing an inmate, crime statistics, the number of people on the welfare rolls, emergency room visits by residents, how dirty the streets are...the list can seem endless, and overwhelming.

The report has changed over the years. "It used to be the size of the Manhattan phone directory, and now it is a readable size," says Dennis Smith, an associate professor of public policy at New York University's Wagner School. Average citizens, he says, "can find data that experienced scholars had a hard time finding 10 years ago." One major change Bloomberg made was the introduction of "My Neighborhood Statistics," which lets Internet users research information on how well city services are being delivered down to the level of their own neighborhoods.

But some people still find the report overly complex to navigate and yet, at the same time, not informative enough. The report, "while it may display improvements in techniques, has never been lauded as a document that helps a reader pull all of it together so that it is the most understandable," says Peter Mameli, an associate professor in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Compstat, Parkstat, Healthstat, Capstat...

In the early 1980s, the sanitation department began issuing scorecards for itself. It was one early effort to take the idea behind the Mayor's Management Report one step further by focusing not just on data, but on outcomes that actually matter to citizens. In this instance, the department realized that what was important was not necessarily to measure how much trash was collected, but how much was left behind.

By 1994, that idea merged with technological advances to transform once again. That was the year the New York Police Department implemented its Compstat program. Then Police Commissioner William Bratton began tracking where and how many major crimes were being committed. Police then poured the data into a computer database and generated maps and charts of problem spots. Now, instead of focusing on how many police officers were deployed throughout the city as a way to gauge crime-fighting efforts, the department focused on sending them to where they were needed most. Precinct captains endured regular meetings where they were either praised for reducing crime in their areas or chastised for failing to do so. The method was widely lauded as helping slash crime in the city.

It was seen as so successful, in fact, that it was replicated throughout the city and country. It even served as the model for Baltimore's CitiStat. The key to the effectiveness of this kind of analysis, which in some circles is called "performance assessment," is in how the numbers are used. "Anybody who thinks this is just measuring is missing it," says Smith, from the Wagner School. "It has to do with figuring out what measures you need to know, and who needs to know those things when. It's leadership, it's resources, it's creative thinking."

The Department of Parks and Recreation, for example, had been collecting stats on cleanliness and safety in public parks. But it did not manage to cut crime and clean up parks significantly until after it took a cue from Compstat. It began reporting data more often than just once a year and held meetings to discuss problems and hold managers accountable. The percentage of clean, safe parks jumped from 40 percent to 80 percent.

There are yet more measurements for the city. Just last week, the Department of Health launched a new tool on its Web site that lets diners run detailed searches of New York City's 20,000-plus eateries.

What's more, at least 17 city agencies participate in the Citywide Accountability Program (Capstat), a system that is somewhat like having a CityStat for each agency: they measure performance and report results on the Internet. But, according to a 2002 report by the Independent Budget Office, "Capstat mostly reiterates operational information in the Mayor's Management Report and does not reflect the kind of results that really matter to residents."

Why The City Council Wants Citystat

For such a dweeby topic, performance assessment is becoming hipper all the time. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has focused on using technology to streamline government. The 311 system he implemented in 2003 has gleaned useful information about New Yorkers' grievances.

New City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was even more specific in her acceptance speech. Quinn referred to "using technology to find patterns of problems across the city. If multiple neighborhoods can't get stop signs installed in a timely fashion, we should know that is a systemic problem and treat it as such," she said. "If some neighborhoods are saddled with higher unemployment than others, we should quantify it and then direct economic development money to those communities that need it most." Other city council members applauded loudly. Quinn acknowledged what good data can do -- identify problems large or small.

CityStat could do that. Based on the Compstat model, it is an accountability system that would provide analyses of how well city agencies are performing and then put that information on the Web. Each city agency would have to produce a report card on its own performance using data from specific indicators relevant to the work it does. It would then have to report that information to the city council and put it on the Internet at regular intervals. In theory, there would be a central location to access the different report cards and data produced through Compstat, Parkstat, Capstat and the Mayor's Management Report.

"It's based on the theory that sunlight is the best disinfectant," says Gioia, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigations and the bill's sponsor. He and other proponents of such a system point to the success of Citistat in Baltimore, which cost under $300,000 to launch but saved that city some $43 million in its first three years. It almost immediately helped slash overtime, improve productivity and reduce absenteeism among city employees; it quadrupled the amount of graffiti removal in the city and cut complaints about potholes.

The details of how it would work in New York are somewhat unclear. In Baltimore, for example, a citizen cannot search a massive database and come up with whatever specialized information he wants. Instead, the CitiStat staff releases a report each week about a different government agency. Here, however, public access is one of the key selling points of the system.

The Bloomberg administration does not seem impressed with the proposal. The bill as it stands now "is riddled with problems," says Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, whose Office of Operations would be instrumental in implementing such a system. For example, Barowitz says, the CityStat bill "demands that some figures be reported monthly, when they are collected semi-annually. The bill needs to be completely overhauled," he said.

Roadblocks And Miracles

Despite Capstat and the Mayor's Management Report, some city agencies are still just catching up. Two years ago, homeless New Yorkers with HIV or AIDS might have found themselves dumped in leaky, unlocked apartments without heat, hot water, electricity, mattresses or toilet paper. Sometimes they ended up trapped there for months, despite legal mandates for the city's HIV/AIDS Services Administration to move them quickly to permanent housing. Nearly three-quarters of the emergency and transitional rooming had housing violations, according to a 2004 investigation by the City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigations.

As stultifying as the problems the committee found was a roadblock it encountered along the way: a dearth of data from the AIDS services agency itself. Most shockingly, the agency kept no master list of referrals and placements where people with AIDS could go for emergency shelter. The lack of a centralized system meant that caseworkers usually did not know whether a landlord was negligent or an apartment was sub-standard. So some clients waited months, if not years, for permanent placement while others got shoved back into rooms that had already been found to be uninhabitable.

"It was everything you are afraid of in government, that there is no one in charge and no one monitoring results," Gioia said. "It was a broken system that was failing miserably at its goals."

The city council passed three new laws after the committee released its report on the city's AIDS agency. One of those laws requires that the agency create and maintain a referral and placement master list.

If some city agencies don't seem to get what all the fuss about keeping records and analyzing data is about, others have become true believers -- thanks to some apparent miracles. This is what happened at the Department of Corrections, which since 1995 has run TEAMS, short for Total Efficiency Accountability Management System. As part of that system, officials noticed a spike in inmates trying to sneak in contraband material that could be made into weapons. Paying close attention to the data, they realized that the increase came mostly from one facility, and intuited a larger problem brewing among inmates. All this helped the Department of Corrections cut inmate-on-inmate violence, officials say, by 97 percent.

 

City Council Committee Assignments


Untitled Document

2006 City Council Committees

Approved January 18, 2006 (updated February 2, 2007)

Standing Committees

Aging
Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Chair
Gail Brewer
Helen Foster
Dennis Gallagher
Vincent Gentile
Sara Gonzalez
Domenic Recchia
Kendall Stewart
James Vacca

Civil Rights
Larry Seabrook, Chair
Bill de Blasio
Darlene Mealy
Hiram Monserrate
Michael Nelson

Civil Service & Labor
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
James Gennaro
Melissa Mark Viverito

Michael Nelson
Larry Seabrook

Consumer Affairs
Leroy Comrie, Chair
Charles Barron
James Gennaro
Oliver Koppell
John Liu

Contracts
Yvette Clarke, Chair
Robert Jackson
John Liu
Melissa Mark Viverito
Michael Nelson
Kendall Stewart
David Weprin

Cultural Affairs, Libraries & International Intergroup Relations
Dominic Recchia, Chair
Leroy Comrie
Inez Dickens
Daniel Garodnick
Vincent Gentile
Eric Gioia
James Vacca
David Weprin
Thomas White, Jr.

Economic Development
Thomas White, Jr., Chair
Alan Gerson
Letitia James
Michael McMahon
Annabel Palma
Diana Reyna
Albert Vann
David Weprin
David Yassky

Education
Robert Jackson, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Bill DeBlasio
Simcha Felder
Lewis Fidler
Helen Foster
Daniel Garodnick
Melinda Katz
Oliver Koppell
Jessica Lappin
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Domenic Recchia
James Vacca
Peter Vallone Jr.
Albert Vann
David Yassky

Environmental Protection
James Gennaro, Chair
Bill DeBlasio
Oliver Koppell
Melissa Mark Viverito
Dominic Recchia
Kendall Stewart
Peter Vallone Jr.
Thomas White, Jr.

Finance
David Weprin, Chair
Maria Baez
Gail Brewer
Leroy Comrie
Bill DeBlasio
Lewis Fidler
Dennis Gallagher
James Gennaro
Vincent Gentile
Alan Gerson
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Oliver Koppell
Michael McMahon
James Oddo
Diana Reyna
Joel Rivera
Helen Sears
Peter Vallone Jr.
Al Vann
David Yassky

Fire & Criminal Justice Services
Miguel Martinez, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Tony Avella
Vincent Gentile
Alan Gerson
Eric Gioia
Hiram Monserrate
James Vacca

General Welfare
Bill Deblasio, Chair
Gale Brewer
Jessica Lappin
Annabel Palma
Thomas White, Jr.

Governmental Operations
Simcha Felder, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Inez Dickens
Erik Martin Dilan
Dominic Recchia
Larry Seabrook
Peter Vallone Jr.

Health
Joel Rivera, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Maria Baez
Inez Dickens
Helen Foster
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Michael McMahon
Rosie Mendez
Helen Sears
Kendall Stewart
Albert Vann

Higher Education
Charles Barron, Chair
Tony Avella
Gale Brewer
Miguel Martinez
Larry Seabrook

Housing & Buildings
Erik Martin Dilan, Chair
Tony Avella
Maria Baez
Leroy Comrie
Lewis Fidler
Dennis Gallagher
Robert Jackson
Rosie Mendez
James Oddo
Joel Rivera
Thomas White, Jr.

Immigration
Kendall Stewart, Chair
Charles Barron
Melissa Mark Viverito
Darlene Mealy
Michael Nelson
Annabel Palma
David Weprin

Juvenile Justice
Sara Gonzalez, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Darlene Mealy
James Sanders, Jr.
Helen Sears

Land Use
Melinda Katz, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Tony Avella
Maria Baez
Charles Barron
Leroy Comrie
Inez Dickens
Erik Martin Dilan
Simcha Felder
Daniel Garodnick
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Jessica Lappin
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Michael McMahon
Rosie Mendez
James Oddo
Annabel Palma
Joel Rivera
Larry Seabrook
Helen Sears
Albert Vann

Lower Manhattan Redevelopment
Alan Gerson, Chair
Helen Foster
John Liu
Rosie Mendez
David Yassky

Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse & Disability Services
Oliver Koppell, Chair
Gale Brewer
Simcha Felder
James Gennaro
Annabel Palma

Oversight and Investigations
Eric Gioia, Chair
Gale Brewer
Jessica Lappin
John Liu
Michael Nelson

Parks & Recreation
Helen Foster, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Dennis Gallagher
Alan Gerson
Letitia James

Public Safety
Peter Vallone Jr., Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Eric Martin Dilan
Helen Foster
Daniel Garodnick
James Gennarro
Vincent Gentile
Melinda Katz
Hiram Monserrate
James Oddo
David Yassky James Oddo

Rules/Privileges & Elections
Diana Reyna, Chair
Maria Baez
Leroy Comrie
Inez Dickens
Eric Martin Dilan
Lewis Fidler
Daniel Garodnick
Robert Jackson
Melinda Katz
Michael McMahon
Christine Quinn
James Oddo
Joel Rivera
David Weprin

Sanitation & Solid Waste Management
Michael McMahon, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Dennis Gallagher
James Gennaro
Robert Jackson
Jessica Lappin
Larry B. Seabrook
David Yassky

Small Business
David Yassky, Chair
Letitia James
Darlene Mealy
Annabel Palma
David Weprin

Standards & Ethics
Inez Dickens, Chair
Daniel Garodnick
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Melinda Katz
Jessica Lappin
Helen Sears
James Vacca

State & Federal Legislation
Maria Baez, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Erik Martin Dilan
Lewis Fidler
Michael McMahon
Hiram Monseratte
Joel Rivera

Technology In Government
Gale Brewer, Chair
Bill DeBlasio
Letitia James
Oliver Koppell
James Sanders, Jr.

Transportation
John Liu, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Daniel Garodnick
Oliver Koppell
Jessica Lappin
Miguel Martinez
Michael McMahon
Darlene Mealy
Diana Reyna
Larry Seabrook

Veterans
Hiram Monserrate, Chair
Tony Avella
Lewis Fidler
Letitia James
Michael Nelson

Waterfronts
Michael Nelson, Chair,
Joseph Addobbo, Jr.
Gale Brewer
Vincent Gentile
Alan Gerson
Melissa Mark Viverito
James Vacca

Women's Issues
Helen Sears, Chair
Charles Barron
Sara Gonzalez
Letitia James
Melissa Mark Viverito
Darlene Mealy
James Sanders, Jr.

Youth Services
Lewis Fidler, Chair
Dennis Gallagher
Alan Gerson
Sara Gonzalez
Melissa Mark Viverito
Darlene Mealy

Land Use Subcommittees

Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime
Jessica Lappin, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Charles Barron
Leroy Comrie
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Rosie Mendez
James Oddo
Annabel Palma

Planning, Dispositions & Concessions
Daniel Garodnick, Chair
Maria Baez
Inez Dickens

Zoning Franchises
Tony Avella, Chair
Erik Martin Dilan
Simcha Felder
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Melinda Katz
Michael McMahon
Joel Rivera
Larry Seabrook
Helen Sears
Albert Vann

Subcommittees

Drug Abuse (Mental Health)
Annabel Palma, Chair

Public Housing
Rosie Mendez, Chair

Senior Centers (Aging)
James Vacca, Chair



 

 

City Council Stated Meeting - January 18, 2006


MEETING SUMMARY:

The City Council appointed chairs and members for its committees today. It also re-appointed the chair and one member of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city agency that oversees historic preservation in New York.

New Chairs

The New York City Council took shape on January 18th with the naming of more than 40 committee heads -- the "chairs" of council standing committee and sub-committees. Council Speaker Christine Quinn praised her appointments. "We've increased the number of women in leadership and heading committees from 13 in our last council to 15," she said. "We've named 21 council members of color chair of committees, including three committees that the Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus identified as most critical -- Education, Health and Housing. And we've named a Republican leader to head a council committee, the task force on buildings."

Some key committee heads remain the same. But several new chairs were appointed. New Councilmember Inez Dickens takes over as the chair of the Standards and Ethics Committee and becomes the Majority Whip, earning an $11,000 stipend. Jessica Lappin will head the Land Use Sub-Committee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime. Daniel Garodnick will also chair a Land Use Sub-Committee on Planning Dispositions and Concessions. And Rosie Mendez will lead the Sub-Committee on Public Housing.

The important post of chair of the Education Committee went, as predicted, to Robert Jackson, who was one of the original plaintiffs in the Council for Fiscal Equity suit against the state for underfunding the city's public schools. Bronx Councilmember Joel Rivera, whose early support helped garner Quinn her Speaker position, is Majority Leader, chair of the Health Committee, and recipient of a $23,000 stipend, second only to Quinn's $28,500 bonus. The new chair of Housing and Buildings will be Erik Martin Dilan, a move that helps Vito Lopez of Brooklyn solidify himself as an unofficial housing czar.

Leroy Comrie Jr., who had been up for speaker before Quinn got the job, received a bump up to Deputy Majority Leader and chair of Consumer Affairs with a $20,000 stipend. Reyna replaced him as head of Rules, Privileges and Elections. Alan Gerson will chair a new committee for Lower Manhattan Redevelopment.

Contentious Appointments to Landmarks Preservation Commission

The City Council also unanimously approved the mayor's re-appointment of two members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city agency that identifies, designates and regulates historic districts and landmarks in the five boroughs. Robert Tierney was re-appointed chair, a full-time position that draws a salary of over $150,000. Elizabeth Ryan was re-appointed as one of the 10 commissioners, who don't get a salary for their part-time work.

Though all went smoothly before the full City Council, some preservation activists delivered strong testimony against Tierney at a committee hearing earlier in the day. "This is not an open process," screamed Michael Henry Adams, historian and author of "Harlem Lost and Found" "It's going to be the same as it's always been," he yelled at top voice from the back of the hearing room. "It's going to be the same as it's always been!" he shouted again as he was forcibly removed from the room.

Other preservationists were less disruptive but equally upset at Tierney's tenure. One activist called Tierney's appointment "pre-ordained" Another, Olive Freud of the Committee For Environmentally Sound Development, said, "Mr. Tierney has been such a disappointment. It almost makes us want to cry." A few preservationists testified in support of Tierney, and Councilmember Simcha Felder, former chair of a the Land Use Sub-Committee on Landmarks, called Tierney's position a "thankless job." Said Felder, "Advocates, no matter what the commission does, it'll never be enough [for them]."

Council members were mostly in support of re-appointing Tierney but also pointed to some improvements they'd like to see: a more transparent and faster process for landmark or historic district designation, more recognition and preservation of the rich history of outer boroughs, better staffing and funding for the commission, and more discussion of how to ease the increased financial burden for shop owners and low-income residents of historic districts or buildings.

No New Bills and Other Business

No bills were introduced at the stated meeting. Council members observed a moment of silence to mark the death of Councilmember Hiram Monserrate's sister after her long battle with cancer. The meeting adjourned with a remembrance of the three children who died in a Coney Island fire last week and of 7-year old Nixmary Brown, allegedly beaten, tortured and killed in her home by her stepfather.

In the wake of Nixmary's death, a scheduled meeting on Jan. 31 of the General Welfare Committee to discuss New York City's Administration for Children's Services could be heated.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is slated to give his State of the City address on January 26, and the city budget should be released shortly afterward. The next City Council stated meeting will be on Wednesday, February 1.

Link to committee chairs and memberships

 

 

 

 

 

 

Older New Yorkers And The Internet


As a nurse, Kathleen Sucich was used to helping people, and now that she is retired, she continues to do so -- by assisting some of the other 800,000 New Yorkers over the age of 65 to become more comfortable with the Internet. In some ways, it is just in time. While in the past, it might have been accepted as a fact of life that older people are far less likely than the population as a whole to use computers, this month in particular the need to bring seniors online has become a matter of urgency.

Since January 1, New Yorkers 65 years of age or older have been able to choose to receive new Medicare prescription drug coverage. But the program is deeply confusing--New York State offers 46 different plans provided through 21 companies. The best way to make sense of it, to sort it all out, is to use the Internet.

The “digital divide” between affluent and poor populations is a well-documented phenomenon. Less discussed is a digital divide based not on income or education, but on age. In 2004, the Pew Internet And American Life project found that only 22 percent of Americans 65 and older are online. This is in stark contrast to the broader adult population; a 2005 Harris poll estimates that almost 75 percent of American adults now go online.

"Many of the most serious challenges of aging -- limited mobility, isolation, reduced income, and the need for health care information and assistance -- are well suited to technology-based solutions," declares the Web site of a New York City non-profit called Older Adults Technology Services, or OATS. "Yet seniors are often excluded from these opportunities due to lack of access to technology and training."

OATS is one of the organizations that aim to provide this training, with the goal of "enhancing the social and civic engagement of older adults."

City agencies and members of the non-profit community are both striving to increase the rate of connectivity among city seniors. New York City's Department for the Aging has provided training for seniors in how to use computers and search the Internet since 1998. The department has allocated almost $13 million over the past four years to purchase computers, train staff in their use, and develop senior-friendly computer programs. There is computer access in more than 40 percent of the 300 senior centers that the department manages. A recent grant from IBM has equipped many centers with software designed for seniors, including Spanish-language software in selected locations.

Several city senior centers also participate in SeniorNet, a national organization that educates seniors about new technologies and also is host of active online discussion forums, which help to lessen the social isolation. "I'm a widow looking for social activities in my area," Ginger wrote recently on one of these message boards. "I play bridge, tennis, like to dance and am new to computers. My son has helped me sign up."

Although the Department for the Aging has engaged in increasing connectivity among seniors, it of course has a much broader mandate than this. But Older Adults Technology Services, founded in 2004, is the first citywide organization "dedicated to addressing the serious gap in technology services for seniors in New York City"

OATS has developed a 10-week senior-friendly course that initially focuses on seemingly rudimentary topics such as how to use a mouse and keyboard. (One concern about the Department for the Aging’s training programs is that they often assume a level of computer literacy that many seniors do not possess). The workbooks are in large type, and computer screens are configured for easy reading.

Once senior students have this foundation, the course provides an introduction to a wide variety of topics, such as how to use Microsoft Word, how to search Amazon, and how to send e-mail. “Google quizzes,” in which seniors search Google to answer obscure trivia questions, are a highlight of the course.One session focuses on how to conduct medical research online.

The agency is also piloting an intergenerational training program, in which teenagers mentor seniors about how to use a computer. According to lead trainer Anthony Accurso, teenagers are empowered by this opportunity to take a leadership role. Because teenagers have a natural affinity for new technologies, this is an innovative way to increase the comfort level of those seniors who are initially reluctant to learn about computers.

It was at Older Adults Technology Services that Kathleen Sucich, now 69, received the training that helped her "not to be so intimidated by the computer", and to become more politically aware as well, thanks to online resources. She feels that there is still much more to learn. But now, when she has difficulty, she knows where to turn.

Marcus Banks is a librarian at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 

District 5: Garbage Stations, Water Tunnel Shaft, and Affordable Housing


The issues facing Manhattan’s 5th City Council district are the same that residents face all across this city: the lack of affordable housing, concerns about education, access to public transportation, and the protection of our parks, libraries, and cultural institutions.

However, there are some specific issues facing this district that are critical to those who live on the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, including: the mayor’s plan to reopen the 91st Street garbage station, the location of Water Shaft 33B to City Water Tunnel Number 3, and the loss of Mitchell-Lama housing on Roosevelt Island.

GARBAGE TRANSFER STATIONS
In 2006, the New York City Council must renew its commitment to passing a comprehensive long-term Solid Waste Management plan to deal with the 50,000 tons of garbage the city produces each day.

I believe that any sensible long-term plan must aim to reduce the amount of trash we produce, expand recycling, lower export costs, and address the harmful environmental effects of the current system. Reducing our reliance on trucks by transporting garbage by barge and rail is also a step in the right direction. This would lessen the adverse environmental impacts of traffic, noise, and pollution.

However, I have serious concerns about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to build and expand marine transfer stations – facilities where sanitation trucks dump garbage onto barges that is then shipped out of state - in densely populated residential neighborhoods.

The mayor's proposal to reopen the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station for commercial and residential waste is a mistake. This site is not only situated in the heart of a residential community, but also is adjacent to Asphalt Green - a recreational facility that sees 675,000 visits a year - and serves public school children from all over the city.

The City Council must work towards finding a more sensible solution. With a lawsuit pending over the 91st Street site and opposition to other proposed sites on the West Side, the city needs to go back to the drawing board and fashion a more sensible and realistic plan.

Obviously, more appropriate alternatives exist for dealing with Manhattan's trash, and the final Solid Waste Management Plan must reflect that.

WATER TUNNEL SHAFT
Another issue of great concern to our community is the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed plan to dig a water supply shaft, known as Shaft 33B, that will connect the East Side of Manhattan to the city’s new third water tunnel.

There are a number of alternative locations where Shaft 33B can be built. The construction of it and the adjoining water main route will impact our community for years to come.

The selection of the shaft site and water main route must be done carefully, with a thorough review of potentially adverse impacts, mitigation factors and alternative proposals, and with input from the community every step of the way.

At the present time, The Department of Environmental Protection considers 59th Street and 1st Avenue to be the preferred location for this project. Throughout the environmental review process, local residents have spoken out and raised serious and legitimate concerns regarding the placement of this site and the connecting water mains.

I have been meeting with other local elected officials and with community leaders to try to address some of these concerns. In the months ahead, I will continue to work with the community and advocate for local residents. The city must take the neighborhood's concerns seriously, respond to their questions in a timely manner, and take a holistic approach to this project. When selecting a final shaft site, Department of Environmental Protection should take the water main route into account. And, the administration should work to ensure that the ultimate site selection impacts the fewest number of residents possible and creates the least amount of disruption to the surrounding community.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ON ROOSEVELT ISLAND
On Roosevelt Island, which is located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, residents are facing an affordable housing crisis. Two middle-income developments, Island House and Westview, are in the process of coming out of the Mitchell-Lama program, and residents in Rivercross are considering privatization as well.

With the potential loss of existing affordable housing, and the new development of market rate buildings, many island residents are questioning the future and fate of the place they call home. As residents negotiate with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, and with the buildings' owners, the city should do all that it can to save and promote the island’s affordable units. We should consider extending existing tax breaks and offering low interest loans as ways to encourage the retention of affordable housing on the island.

While progress and change are inevitable, I hope that Roosevelt Island remains a place for people of all means and all ethnic backgrounds; a melting pot that truly represents the special and wonderful character of this great city.

Jessica Lappin represents City Council district 5, which includes Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side.

 

District 2: Planning for a Better - And Quieter - Community


City Council district 2 is a diverse and vibrant area, which includes communities as rich and unique in history as the Lower East Side, Gramercy Park and Murray Hill. While each neighborhood has its own distinct needs and priorities, there are some unifying issues that face all of the residents of this area.

DEVELOPMENT THAT MEETS THE COMMUNITY’S NEEDS
I am particularly concerned about the loss of scarce affordable housing through conversions, buyouts, and gradual elimination of rent regulations. As a former resident of public housing myself, I am keenly aware of poor maintenance, privatization and discriminatory occupancy rules that current residents face. Out of scale housing developments, massive community facilities and new commercial uses are also straining our public transit, parks and schools, and often change the character of our neighborhoods.

In order to address these issues, the residents of these neighborhoods must develop community-planning guidelines that balance development pressures with the rights of existing residents and the need to preserve economic diversity.

I will assist community board 3 in its current work to discourage buildings that are designed under outdated planning principals.

I will create a mandatory affordable housing component.

And I will assist in negotiations between community residents and the universities and hospitals, which currently have or are likely to have plans to build facilities to ensure that they are in scale with the community fabric.

NOISE CONCERNS
The neighborhoods of district 2 are also characterized by lively bars and restaurants, which contribute substantially to the area’s appeal. When responsibly managed and when licensed in reasonable density, these establishments are tremendous community assets enjoyed by patrons and neighbors.

In certain areas, however, some of these establishments, often with outdoor cafes and backyard gardens, can create excessive noise and crowding that make it difficult for nearby residents to quietly enjoy their homes and sidewalks.

Some of the owners of these bars and restaurants are unresponsive to residents' complaints of noise and music at late night hours or have not made adequate provisions for soundproofing. Some are unwilling or unable to control their patrons who often crowd sidewalks, strain sanitation services, and become rowdy and sometimes dangerous.

Licensing of bars and restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages is currently the purview of the New York State Liquor Authority. The city has no power to control the proliferation of such establishments. The only local control rests with the New York City Police Department, which can enforce legal compliance in existing establishments with such matters as underage drinking, occupancy limits, and noise infractions, and the Department of Consumer Affairs, which licenses sidewalk cafes, but not backyard gardens.

Although the police department is increasingly aware and sensitive to the problems resulting from bar proliferation, most precincts do not have the resources to adequately address the problems.

Reasonable standards must be established which will limit the number, size and character of establishments which may operate in residential districts.

Local law enforcement officials and community boards, which have the most direct information about each establishment's character, must have a meaningful power over licensing approvals.

Adequate resources and streamlined administrative sanctions must be established to enforce realistic noise and nuisance ordinances.

I intend to work cooperatively with my colleagues and the city delegation of the New York State Legislature to find means to increase local control of this very serious problem.

Rosie Mendez represents City Council district 2, which includes Alphabet City, Gramercy, the Lower East Side and Murray Hill.

 

District 13: Improving Education and Reforming the Department of Buildings


Education and reform of the New York City Department of Buildings are two key issues that I hope to address as an incoming member of the New York City Council.

MAKING REAL PROGRESS IN EDUCATION
As a product of the public school system and a public school parent, I want to build upon the recent reform of the school system and assess the effectiveness of changes made to date.

While I support the mayor's initiative to end social promotion, I want to make sure that improvements in test scores are not just sufficient enough to move a youngster on to the next grade, but can be sustained in future years through follow-up and mentoring. In particular, we must look at what happens when children enter the intermediate school years and recognize that their experience during these years often dictate their success in high school as well.

Any discussion about the future of public education must also include the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, in which a court ruled that New York City schools are entitled to more funding. While we await further action on the lawsuit, the City Council must effectively oversee the allocation of resources, because additional funding is not the sole answer to the problems plaguing our schools.

Meaningful oversight by the legislative branch is needed to assure accountability. We must listen and work with teachers, supervisors, support staff and parents. I know what to look for when I visit a school, and I intend to visit all the schools in my district and use my knowledge to assess school tone and learning environment.

Too many schools in my district are still overcrowded. We have high schools with 4,600 students, and elementary schools where children with special needs are forced to hold class in the hallways. This is unacceptable. Crowded classrooms have a direct impact upon academic results. We need more than portable trailers; we need long-term solutions.

I believe we call upon our schools to do so much because they often provide the stability and structure many children cry out for and may not receive at home.

I believe we must stress character education with specified learning strategies for each grade. It is important that we build on basics - not just reading, writing, and arithmetic - but respect for each other, brotherhood and positive socialization. We must teach them at a very young age what is right, what is wrong, and how to know the difference.

I also want to restore meaningful adult education programs because I realize that learning is an on-going process. As someone who returned to Queens College and received my Masters Degree in Urban Studies in 2001, I can attest to the fact that more and more adults see continuing education a priority. It is important that community-based initiatives provide training in computer literacy, resume writing, and job training, and that certificate based programs be expanded or established where they do not exist.

REFORMING THE BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT
Overdevelopment is a serious issue in the Bronx. In recent years, single-family homes have been torn down, and three-family homes have been put up in their place. New buildings are often built without adequate parking and without thought for how they affect our schools, roads, and mass transit, and how they change the character of our neighborhoods.

One of the problems lies with the New York City Department of Buildings, which too often does not enforce existing zoning regulations. I firmly believe that the buildings department can do better.

Currently, the Buildings Department allows architects, who are hired by developers, to approve their own new construction permits with no review by a Buildings Department plan examiner through a process called self-certification. Effectively, this process allows developers to approve their own new plans with no oversight by the Department of Buildings. We must eliminate this practice.

As district manager of community board 10, I found time and time again that too many applications were flawed. By challenging many of them, we successfully reduced developments that would have placed an even greater strain on infrastructure and the character of residential blocks. As a policy, self-certification is wrong.

We must intensify our efforts to professionalize the buildings department and provide them with the expertise needed to enforce the zoning resolution before and after a permit is granted. I want to take a look at each of the borough offices and review their staffing levels, because these offices deal most directly with the public. It is their operation that directly impacts on communities throughout our city.

I also want to advance pending downzoning proposals, which would limit the size and density of new construction for neighborhoods in my district such as Ferry Point, Pelham Bay and Zerega.

James Vacca represents City Council district 13, which includes the Bronx neighborhoods of Morris Park, Pelham and Throgs Neck.

 



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