The culture of mayoral politics in this city continues to invoke strict allegiance to the imperial power of the office. The game is how you get to City Hall so you, the mayor, can make things happen -- not how you can help neighborhood residents make things happen. And most people, whether in office or not, don’t have the foggiest idea how the arcane systems of zoning and planning work.
None of the mayoral candidates are making land use issues the front and center of their campaigns, though they mention them in their ideas about housing. But a little digging unearths some distinctly different approaches.
Buried among Bloomberg’s claims of accomplishments are two initiatives connected to land use -- down-zonings and up-zonings.
The down-zonings are of low-density neighborhoods in the outer boroughs to prevent “overdevelopment.” The down-zonings are aimed at preventing new housing development and conversions that build to the maximum floor area permitted under existing zoning. In other words, they keep developers out. While in some cases these down-zonings are long-overdue measures to help preserve stable communities, in other cases they end up having little effect except helping homeowners in the areas to decide who to pull the lever for in November. In many cases they respond to anti-immigrant prejudices, since many of their new neighbors happen to be immigrants.
The other controversial Bloomberg policy has been to up-zone areas in more dense in-lying residential communities, like Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, one of the deeds for which Bloomberg counts the numbers of jobs and housing that are projected to be created, but has nothing to say about the enormous local resistance he faced.
Fernando Ferrer offers a clear alternative to Bloomberg. The Bloomberg administration continues to oppose mandatory “inclusionary zoning”--the use of zoning to make housing developers include units for people with low and moderate incomes. At first, Bloomberg’s planning experts claimed that inclusionary zoning doesn’t work, and they opposed a proposal to incorporate inclusionary provisions in the Fourth Avenue rezoning in Brooklyn, which would have allowed developers to voluntarily incorporate affordable housing units in return for getting more square feet of building space. Then, after considerable pressure over the mayor’s rezoning of Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the administration went along with voluntary inclusionary measures.
In contrast, Ferrer proposes to mandate inclusionary zoning in target areas that are under development pressure. He would require that 30 percent of new housing units in these areas be affordable -- 15 percent for low-income and 15 percent for moderate-income households. In return, he would offer a series of bonuses and incentives to developers to make it worth their while. If they provide more than 50 percent affordable units, they would receive financial incentives and density bonuses. Under certain conditions, they could transfer their development rights to other parcels of land or contribute to a housing fund that would produce affordable units elsewhere.
Ferrer also proposes a comprehensive zoning overhaul and reduction of red tape, but it’s not clear what this would mean; in the past, City Hall has retreated every time they faced the Herculean task of changing the thousands of custom-made zoning provisions that developers and individuals are invested in, and communities have fought for or against, over the last half century.
Ferrer recently chose to announce his plan for housing while in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx., where he had supported community residents who opposed a city housing proposal that would have displaced many people when he was Bronx Borough president. He funded their alternative plan, which was then adopted by the city, and which has led to revitalization of the neighborhood. Subsequently Ferrer has been an advocate of community-based planning, and supported the principles of the Campaign for Community-based Planning in the last election.
Anthony Weiner, however, hits the hardest at the planning process under the Bloomberg administration. He derides “too many insider deals” and says that too many of the new projects are financed “off budget” -- through PILOTS (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) and new special authorities like the ones used in the mayor’s Midtown West plan. Weiner calls for “legal requirements that ban insider deals” and “laws that open up the bidding process,” ending the practice of no-bid contracts. Weiner also criticizes the environmental review process, saying that Environmental Impact Statements are “tools of development rather than what they were intended to be.”
C. Virginia Fields claims credit for having sponsored an alternative plan for Manhattan’s West Side that did not include Bloomberg’s ill-fated Jets stadium. Fields has also come out in favor of mandatory inclusionary zoning in neighborhoods “shifting from affordable to market-rate housing” and a voluntary program in other areas.
Beyond the mayoral candidates, at least two others who are running this year have come out with relevant statements.
Norman Siegel, candidate for Public Advocate, has been calling for a more open process of planning and has come out strongly against the use of eminent domain to promote new development.
Scott Stringer, candidate for Manhattan Borough President, recently released a series of recommendations for reforming Manhattan community boards. They include provision of a professional planner to each community board and greater support for the 197-a planning process, in which community boards can prepare plans and get them officially approved.
The Community-based Planning Task Force has launched a campaign to get candidates to put community planning issues on their agendas for discussion in the campaign. Their recommendations are detailed in their report Livable Neighborhoods for a Livable City (in pdf format), and the candidates are being surveyed to see if they agree with the recommendations. They have not yet formally responded.
Tom Angotti is Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College, City University of NY, editor of Progressive Planning Magazine, and a member of the Task Force on Community-based Planning.
Whoever is mayor on January, 2006 will face monumental decisions about New York City’s budget, thanks in part to the $4.5 billion deficits projected for each of the next two fiscal years.
A budget ultimately reflects the values of those who make it and approve it, and the mayor’s choices on the following ten budget-related issues go to the heart of his or her values and vision for the city.
1. Education Education plays an immense role in the city’s finances, with spending on it for operational expenses expected to reach $17 billion in 2006, or 32 percent of the total city budget. The city’s share of that funding has increased an average of almost four percent each year since 2000.
The big unknown in education is the city’s obligation, if any, to meet the state court order in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. The court has ordered an increase in city education operational spending by $5.6 billion over four years and $9.2 billion in capital spending over the next five years. It is not clear what the state and city shares would be.
Specific issue: Whether the city will share in the new spending required by the CFE case, and how much that share will be.
2. City Workforce.
No city union currently has a contract for the 2006-2009 financial plan period. Yet, the Bloomberg administration’s current plan assumes future settlements will be at half the rate of inflation. Higher agreements will mean finding hundreds of millions of additional dollars.
Specific issue: Negotiating union contracts, and paying for future city labor settlements.
3. Public Safety
Major crimes continue to decline in New York City, even as the number of police officers declined by some 3,700 officers in 2005, or over nine percent, from a peak of approximately 40,000 in 2000, according to a report by the Independent Budget Office (in pdf format). The agency’s report also notes that another reasonable money-saving budget choice is available – civilianization, using lower-paid civilians to do work currently being done by higher-paid uniformed officers.
Specific issue: What the number of uniformed police officers should be, and whether to expand civilianization in the department.
4. Sanitation
One of the major increases in city spending in the past few years has been the escalating cost of residential waste disposal. Disposal has tripled in cost since the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island in 1998, to $300 million currently, according to a recent Independent Budget Office report (in pdf format). The use of new marine transfer stations and rail lines that would reduce the costs of the very expensive truck-based system used today raises important cost, equity, and environmental issues.
Specific issue: How to reduce the escalating costs of the current truck-based waste disposal system in the city
5. Overtime
The cost of overtime for police, firefighters, and the city’s other uniformed services in 2005 again reached more than $700 million, nearly $200 million more than was initially budgeted for the year, according to a report by the Financial Control Board. The underestimating of overtime costs is, in fact, a pattern that goes back well into the 1990s, and the Financial Control Board sees the pattern continuing in the Bloomberg administration’s new financial plan.
Specific issue: What management measures to employ in order to reduce the exceedingly high overtime costs for the uniformed services.
6. Property Tax
The city’s property tax will bring in an estimated $12.4 billion in 2006, or about 43 percent of all city tax revenues. It’s also the only city tax projected to increase substantially in the next four years (by $3.2 billion, says the Financial Control Board). The tax became a hot issue in November 2002 when Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council increased the rate by 18.5 percent – after a decade in which the average tax rate had been frozen. The $1.8 billion in new revenues produced by the increase helped solve a budget deficit that at one point had reached $6 billion.
The mayor’s $400 rebate to homeowners – continued in the four-year plan at a cost of over $250 million a year -- has wiped out that increase for many homeowners, but has left the burden on commercial owners and renters (who pay a substantial percentage of a landlord’s property tax). The rebates have exacerbated a bizarre, confusing property tax system in which private house owners pay lower property taxes than coop and condo owners; worse yet, renters, with lower incomes than homeowners on average, pay by far the highest residential rate.
Specific issue: What to do to reform the city’s bizarre property tax system, while maintaining its place as a vital source of city revenue.
7. Personal Income Tax
The personal income tax, or PIT, is the second largest -- and most progressive -- city tax, bringing in $6 billion (20 percent of tax revenues) in 2005. Its rates currently range from 2.9 percent of income for lower-paid taxpayers to 4.45 percent for households earning over $500,000. The two highest rates (4.25 and 4.45 percent), which added about $540 million in revenues to the 2005 budget, will be eliminated at the end of this calendar year. That will make the PIT less progressive, and make it more difficult to resolve the city’s long-term budget deficits.
Specific issue: Whether to restore the higher personal income tax rates for higher-earning New Yorkers.
8. Rainy Day Fund and Structural Budget Balance
The $3.5 billion surplus in the fiscal year 2005, along with the $1.9 billion surplus in 2004, have triggered a lot of interest, most recently by the City Comptroller in his July report, in establishing a so-called “rainy day fund,” which means saving all (or some of) any budget surplus and setting up procedures for using it over time – as, say, when an economic recession cuts revenues sharply. Under current state law, any surplus must be spent in the fiscal year of the surplus.
Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg have used billions of dollars of annual surpluses to pre-pay the next year’s expenses. That is politically attractive – I call the surplus a “sunny day fund” for mayors – because it’s an easy way to avoid new taxes or reduced spending for 12 months. The downside is that it’s a one-time revenue. Without the recent surplus, the mayor and council would have had to find $3.5 billion in service cuts and new revenues. If there were $3.5 billion of recurring cuts and revenues in the 2006 budget, next year’s deficit at this point would be $1 billion, not $4.5 billion; the four-year plan would be considered close to “structurally balanced,” that is, long-term revenue and expense projections would be roughly equal.
Specific issue: Whether to create a rainy day fund as the most reasonable way to achieve a more structurally balanced financial plan
9. Capital Budget
The July report by the Financial Control Board calls the Bloomberg administration’s latest 10-year, $62.4 billion capital budget strategy – the separate city budget that funds (by borrowing money in the financial markets) the rehabilitation, replacement, and new construction of public facilities – “by far the largest ten-year strategy ever presented.” The education portion is $18 billion, or 29 percent of the total. Since the debt service for this capital work is paid out of the operating budget, fiscal monitors worry about the burden of such an investment: $4.3 billion in debt service in 2006 (14.4 percent of city tax revenues), rising to $5.9 billion in 2009 (17.4 percent of city tax revenues).
Specific issue: Whether to support the city’s current 10-year capital budget strategy and its priorities.
10. Budget Process
The current mayor’s Charter Revision Commission has spent eleven months discussing possible changes in the city’s charter, and their work has focused in large part on two important questions: 1) public (and fiscal monitor) access to city budget information, and 2) the quality (and usefulness) of many charter-mandated budget and management reports. (The commission has said it is no longer considering the second question for the ballot in November, but it remains an important issue.) A running theme among critics of the commission’s proposals has been deep concern about possible expansion of the already extraordinary power that the city’s mayors have over the city budget.
Specific issue: What to do to expand the public’s knowledge of, and participation in, the city’s annual budget process.
Glenn Pasanen, who teaches political science at Lehman College, has been in charge of Gotham Gazette's finance topic page since 2001.Â
Gotham Gazette's Reading NYC Book Club held a conversation on July 27 at the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library with authors of two newly-published books about New York City under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. An edited version of the conversation appears below:
Gotham Gazette: Fred Siegel, who is also the author of The Future Once Happened Here, and who was party to some of the discussions in which Giuliani's ideas evolved, has written The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life, a book that argues that Giuliani brought New York out of the low point of its history.
Rob Polner, who covered the mayor for Newsday, has brought together a group of 25 writers (including Jimmy Breslin, Jim Dwyer, LynNell Hancock, Luc Sante, and Kevin Baker) to contribute chapters for a book entitled America’s Mayor: The Hidden History of Rudy Giuliani’s New York. It examines various aspects of the Giuliani administration critically, finding the former mayor (in Polner’s words) “his own worst enemy and the city’s as well.”
Both of the books establish that 9/11 is now the point of entry when talking about Giuliani, but they focus more on other aspects of his legacy: the policies on crime and the effect of those policies on race relations and civil liberties; his actions on welfare reform; and debates about his spending and his relationship to "special interests."
Please tell us how you reached your views on Giuliani and why you decided to work on books about a mayor who hasn’t been in office for four years.
Fred Siegel: I reached my views on Giuliani from my experiences as a New Yorker. I live in Flatbush, and I watched my neighbors prepare to evacuate in 1993. There was a sense the city was finished. . . [Giuliani’s predecessor Mayor David] Dinkins himself asked publicly in his speeches, can New York survive? [A telling moment came when then-parks commissioner] Betsy Gotbaum is standing in front of a lake in Central Park, cameras are rolling, and she’s talking about improvements made in Central Park, and as she’s speaking a dead body bobs to the surface. This is the era of “No Radio” signs, saying, in effect, rob someone else’s car. Auto theft, radio theft in particular, was essentially legalized because it was not something the police had time to bother to prosecute.
My interest in this came out of those years, the sense that the city was finished and something had to be done. [After writing policy papers for the Clinton presidential campaign], in 1992-1993 I got involved running seminars for Giuliani, giving him tutorials on a whole variety of subjects.
The rationale for the book can be explained in an old Soviet joke. A skeptical young man is puzzled about something, and asks [an official]: I know about the future, the future is always glowing, it’s always wonderful, it’s always getting better and better. It’s the past I have a problem with; it keeps on changing. And [that’s what’s happened in New York.]… David Dinkins, who brought the city close to the edge of disaster, is an honored guest at City Hall…In many ways the Bloomberg administration, policing and welfare aside, is a more competent version of the Dinkins administration, with a difference that Bloomberg can write his own check to interest groups when the city budget is inadequate. So, I wrote the book in order to give people a sense of what happened in New York, how it got to where it was, why it almost collapsed.
Rob Polner: I covered the Giuliani administration for Newsday down at City Hall from the middle of the Ruth Messenger-Rudy Giuliani reelection campaign until the very end. And in that time I wrote more stories than I can carry with me… Because Room 9, the press room where I worked, is only just a few feet from where the mayor sits, you can really get about as close to understanding this mayor in his public role as anybody. You see him virtually every day. And this is a mayor who has a lot of uses for the press – a very secretive mayor, bordering almost on paranoid, but nevertheless one who uses the press to promote his agenda and to send his message almost on a daily basis. In fact if it was Thursday and there hadn’t been a big brouhaha, the reporters in Room 9 knew that the mayor would somehow throw a punch to start a fight. He was a very exciting and interesting mayor to cover.
By September 10th, 2001, the city was moving away from Giuliani, and the mayoral candidates were getting traction by criticizing Giuliani and his policies. I’m not going to bend over backwards to defend the Dinkins administration, but Rudy Giuliani actually raised spending more on a per-year basis than Dinkins did. Giuliani’s last budget had a nine percent increase in spending, much of which was hidden… Giuliani’s impact on the public schools wasn’t very good.
On September 11th, he performed admirably [at a time when] no one knew where Bush was and no one knew where Cheney was. The world hailed him as the newest Churchill. He was reinvented on 9/11 and he is still living off of that glory; in fact he may run for president based on his performance on 9/11.
I was as disoriented and traumatized as anyone by 9/11, but one of the ways in which I got my bearing was that he did something that made me think that maybe the city was going to recover from this Alice in Wonderland feeling. What he did was he sought to extend his term beyond the statutory limit. That was the Giuliani I knew, that was the Giuliani New Yorkers knew. He was going to try to pull an Al Haig and he was going to try to maneuver his way to stay in power beyond the end of his constitutional limit.
So that’s why I wrote the book, to address some of the mythologizing, Rudy’s own exaggerations and those of his supporters, and begin to set the record straight, because I think it is important for the future of the city.
Fred Siegel: This, I think, gets to the heart of where Rob and I disagree. What Giuliani was proposing, and he was right, was a 90-day extension provided by the State Constitution. Why? Because for a brief moment, Congress, which generally has no use for New York, was in the palm of our hand so far as that they could not say “no” to Giuliani. His proposal to the Congress was to give us long-term relief, to change the funding formulas; for twenty years New Yorkers have talked about the fact that every dollar we send to Washington we get 79 cents back one year, 80 cents the next year. The focus in lower Manhattan [could have been] major transportation reconstruction quickly, reconnecting lower Manhattan to the transportation grid of the region.
Those are the things that could have happened; neither of them happened.
More time has now passed since 9/11 than it took to defeat the Japanese and the Germans in World War II. Go down to lower Manhattan and see what’s been done under Bloomberg and Pataki, and you want to see what leadership means.
Rob Polner: I think that the myth that Giuliani and his people were propagating at the end of his term was that the city could not survive without him -- the very social fabric of the city, the safety of the city.
Well, lo and behold we did, we’re still here, amazingly. And Rudy Giuliani left office on time because his scheme fell apart.
I don’t have a lot of faith, as Fred does, that he would have made a difference in those 90 days. First of all, 90 days is like five minutes in New York politics. Second of all, this is a guy who went to Albany and Washington and said stop giving us money, we don’t know how to spend it. However admirable you might think his message was about New York City becoming more self- sufficient, all that did, in my opinion, was open the door for, for example, the commuter tax to be eliminated by the legislature -- costing the city $400-500 million a year.
Fred Siegel: That was done by [Assembly Speaker] Shelley Silver. Was he Rudy’s puppet?
Rob Polner: [It was an attitude Giuliani helped create.] They basically said, “You guys admit you are not responsible, so we’ll cut the funding.”
Gotham Gazette: Let’s go back to before Giuliani came into office, to which you devote the first quarter of your book, Mr. Siegel. You say that New York was a once-great city that was taken over by “interest groups, a political monopoly more suffocating than Tammany at its worst.” What exactly did you mean by that?
"This city has a very unusual combination of hyper-politicized and completely demobilized. It is run by those people with a stake in government."
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Fred Siegel: It’s important to understand how New York works and continues to work (and Bloomberg is definitely a restoration of business as usual.) I spend the first hundred pages of the book going from LaGuardia to the end of Dinkins, trying to explain the political culture in New York and what is so destructive about it.
New York goes into recessions earlier than the rest of the country and it comes out later. The rest of the country went into recession the first quarter of 1991, and was out of the recession by the third quarter of 1992. We went into recession a quarter before; we didn’t come out of the recession until the third quarter of 1996. Now why is that important? It is important because New York is three percent of the population of the country, yet we lost 25 percent of all the jobs in America lost during that recession.
During that period one group was held harmless -- the public sector unions, public sector interests. There were a few lay-offs but Dinkins engaged in billion-dollar tax increases to keep the public sector, his political base, happy.
The key here to understanding the political life of the city, I think, is that those people who work directly or indirectly for government are the people who vote. In the 2003 elections, turnout (depending on the districts) ranged from three percent to seven percent. This city has a very unusual combination of hyper-politicized and completely demobilized. It is run by those people with a stake in government.
The city was bankrupt when Giuliani came into office. Most of this is not known; the Financial Control Board wanted to take the city over. Giuliani never talked about this crisis, never talked about it publicly. The city could not pay its bills; it was out of cash. I spent a lot of time around City Hall in 1994 and 1995, and every interest group in the city was in a rage. They were right to be in a rage; their interests were being taken on. It was a magnificent job of managing a crisis situation. Welfare reform begins not as welfare reform, but as budget reform. A lot of what drives what Giuliani does -- why he endorsed Mario Cuomo in 1994, for example -- has got to do with the city’s impending bankruptcy; he needed Cuomo to fend it off and he didn’t trust Pataki (quite rightly, as we’ve seen over the years).
Gotham Gazette: Mr. Polner, had liberalism failed the way Mr. Siegel believes, before Giuliani took office?
Rob Polner: First of all, remember that the long post-war boom ended by the end of the 1960s and deindustrialization was well under way. We had a significant long-lasting recession. The city had been turned very rapidly into a front office for corporate America -- that was the plan for Manhattan below 59th Street – but after the 1960s, a third of those Fortune 500 companies left. They went to the suburbs, where they were closer to their labor pool, their secretarial pool; it was inexpensive to hire their staff. Many of the executives interviewed in one study said they simply didn’t want to commute to the city; they wanted to be closer to where they lived. So the city lost a lot of its prestige and base in those years; it was very hard times.
The Democrats, starting with the New Deal and going on to Bobby Kennedy and later Mario Cuomo and David Dinkins, tried to engage the problems of America’s cities, which were huge problems with joblessness, particularly among minorities in this town, drug addiction, later AIDS, and crime.
There were mistakes made by Democrats -- urban renewal, for one – that I wouldn’t want to see repeated. But it’s too convenient, I think, for people of the right, Republicans in particular, to say with a broad brush that none of this worked, that in fact it just exacerbated these problems. In fact Republicans, whether we are talking about Ford or Reagan, really had no interest in terms of their political base and their ideology, in addressing the problems of the big cities.
So it is very easy to say liberals have failed and we have to go in a new direction, but I would say, that you have to give the Democratic party, and liberalism, and the New Deal credit for trying, and they were successful on many fronts, and Giuliani benefited as he came into office from their having waged these battles over the years.
Gotham Gazette: The most striking difference everybody points to between the Dinkins years and the Giuliani years was that crime, which had been dropping slightly at the end of the Dinkins administration, plummeted. Before 9/11, crime was seen as Giuliani’s major accomplishment. Do you think he deserves that reputation, Mr. Polner?
Rob Polner: I think Giuliani deserves some credit for making crime his signature issue from the beginning, even when no one on the left and no one on the right could have predicted or known or expected that crime would drop the way we’ve seen it drop -- and the way it continues to drop, with Mr. Giuliani out of office and a new police chief, a new mayor, and very different tactics.
I think Giuliani deserves credit for an innovation that you know as CompStat, which is the pinpointing of crime trends and holding police commissioners accountable.
But Rudy Giuliani very actively, virtually daily, perpetuated the notion, without actually saying it, that he was personally responsible for making New York City safe again, and it is just not true. There were 300 fewer murders in the first year of his office than the year before, 1994, before CompStat was fully rolled out. What accounts for that? Similarly, crime went down all over the country, in states and cities with very different tactics, completely opposite tactics in some cases. Something else was going on.
I recommend that you read Andrew Karmen’s book called New York Murder Mystery. He is a criminologist and he examines what happened. He points to a confluence of very different factors that might have had an effect on crime. For example, demographics: By the 1990s, 70 percent of young people have experienced at least a year of college, compared to the 1970s when it was maybe 30 percent. Certainly another factor was the end of the crack epidemic, which cut across Dinkins mayoralty horribly. And perhaps the addition (I’m not convinced of this) of 5,000 police, which Dinkins, under a great deal of pressure from the media and the City Council, set the stage for by passing the Safe City Safe Streets Act and raising taxes. That’s not in Giuliani’s playbook, I don’t think he would have done it, but Dinkins raised taxes at least temporarily to pay for all these cops, at least 2,000 of whom hit the street during the Dinkins administration. Even AIDS may have been a factor, because sadly so many heroin users on the street who were responsible for muggings and shootings for money to make their fix, died from AIDS.
"Rudy Giuliani very actively, virtually daily, perpetuated the notion, without actually saying it, that he was personally responsible for making New York City safe again, and it is just not true."
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You know it is an interesting fact that murders in 1997 and 1998 fell three times as fast indoors as outdoors. Police can’t affect really very well shootings that take place inside; they can’t be expected to do that. What does that tell you? It tells you that there was a de-escalation of hostilities, it wasn’t just New York, it was nationally, and we should be careful about giving Rudy Giuliani the credit.
Fred Siegel: Let me disagree with Rob on each and every point.
Here are a few facts: New York is three percent of the population and accounts for 25 percent of the drop in crime. Crime did not drop everywhere. It didn’t drop in Philadelphia, didn’t drop in Baltimore, didn’t drop in Cincinnati, it didn’t drop in Chicago. In Chicago, a city with one third of the population than New York, they had more murders than New York. It didn’t drop nationally. And those places where it did drop, like Texas, it dropped because of extraordinary incarceration rates. One of the interesting things about what happened to crime in New York in the 1990s is our rate of prison incarceration did not increase. We didn’t put more prisoners away, but there was less crime.
Now Rob says this began with CompStat. Actually this began with Broken Windows. When [William] Bratton was the head of the Transit police -- remember in those days the Transit police was a separate department -- Bratton begins to apply broken windows. And he discovers what George Killing, the father of Broken Windows, understood already -- that there is no distinction between the guys that commit the small crimes and the guys who commit the big crimes.
So of the people who were caught jumping turnstiles, one in seven were wanted on outstanding felony warrants. Bratton brought crime down dramatically in the subways. At this point I was the editor of the City Journal and I was publishing articles about Bratton and what Bratton was doing.
Dinkins had no interest in this because Dinkins believes in the root cause of crime. Although he had authorization to hire 5,000 more cops he hired 2,000, and he didn’t think that they really count for much. We also had two riots in the last years of Dinkins term.
Giuliani chose Bratton [to be police commissioner] partly because Bratton was far more innovative [than his predecessor Ray Kelley], although Kelley is very competent. The biggest mistake Giuliani made was pushing Bratton out because the system that Bratton created continues to drive crime down.
The key here is the combination of Broken Windows and CompStat, policing the small crimes and patrolling statistically -- figuring out where the action is and anticipating where criminals are going to go so crime is actually reduced.
Now it’s important to note here that this all takes place before the economy recovers. This is not a function of better economic times. One of the reasons I think why we are not back in the Dinkins years is that crime reform, and to a lesser extent welfare reform, are still in place. I can’t prove this [but I suspect] it’s part of an explicit deal between Giuliani and Bloomberg. Bloomberg does not do anything to crime reform and welfare reform and is free to screw up everything else and pretty much does; on the other hand Giuliani says nothing [against Bloomberg] when he runs for President (and he is running), [and] Bloomberg will write him an enormous check. We’ll see this unfold, I think, in the next few years.
Michael Hersh: Fred, you were making a point and then you stopped. Giuliani was interested in crime, he had George Kelling’s theory of Broken Windows, he had CompStat, whereas Dinkens was more interested in… and then you shifted gears. I assume you were going to say he was more interested in poverty and systemic issues. What’s wrong with that?
Fred Siegel: Michael, the key thing is at that point CompStat didn’t exist. CompStat began to come into play in the second year of the Giuliani administration when Jack Maple, an extraordinary character out of a Damon Runyon novel, started putting pins in a map and started saying we can do this, we can computerize this. What he had is Broken Windows. What Giuliani had is he studied what Bratton had done in the subways. I pat myself on the back here, I brought this to his attention, I brought Kelling in to speak with him. He understood this.
Dinkins was firmly wedded to the notion of the root cause of crime, that if you don’t reduce poverty you don’t reduce crime. The trouble is the causation works more the other way -- that crime causes poverty, rather than the other way around.
If I want to map high poverty areas of the United States, I map the riots in the 1960s. With very few exceptions, none of those areas have recovered, or are just now recovering. So, violence is deadly for cities because it takes away the city’s greatest asset. The city’s greatest asset is public space. If you can’t enjoy public space then you might as well live in suburbia. If you don’t reduce crime you might as well tell people, “you want a better life, leave.”
One of Giuliani’s virtues for which he was intensely disliked, is that he took crime in East New York every bit as serious as he took crime on Fifth Avenue. And the sharpest drops in crime, the sharpest rise in the value of homes, the sharpest rise in the state of well-being occurred in the poorest neighborhoods in the city. That’s something you think liberal Democrats would applaud.
Tom Leimsider: You mentioned that Bratton was responsible for a lot of the reduction in crime during the Giuliani administration, yet Giuliani kind of chased him away. That seems to be a criticism of Giuliani in that it’s Giuliani’s way or the highway; he doesn’t have room for other people to share his limelight.
Fred Siegel: I think you are right. You have to understand something. Giuliani and Bratton are actually the same person. They are both ramrods. They are both guys with devoted followers. When Giuliani comes in office he gives every one David Osborne’s Reinventing Government; Bratton gives everyone Hammer and Champy’s Reengineering the Corporation. They are very similar people. When they are both in the same room no one else has air to breathe.
But yes, I think this is one of Giuliani’s biggest failings. He wouldn’t allow Bratton the limelight he deserved. And I think this will come back in the presidential election, I think this will be brought up as a very legitimate criticism.
You see what Bratton is doing now in Los Angeles. L.A., you have to understand, has 9,000 cops for a city that has half the population of New York. It has a police force one quarter the size of New York’s for half the population. It is wildly under policed, yet Bratton has reduced crime 30 percent. Partly it’s the methods; partly it’s the leadership. And a lot of the trouble in Giuliani’s second term was a function of having replaced Bratton with a guy who is technically competent, Howard Safir, but was a stiff, who was cut off from the life of the city, cut off from the life of the department. Two days after the Diallo [shooting], he goes to the Academy Awards in Hollywood, not understanding what’s happened in the city. So this pays malign dividends for pushing Bratton out, yes.
Gotham Gazette: Mr. Siegel, by the time of Diallo, you mention in your book that there were some legitimate grievances concerning stop-and-frisk policies. Do you think this was something where aggressive policing had gone too far, or was tension unavoidable?
Amadou Diallo |
Fred Siegel: Tension is avoidable. My wife, Jan Rosenberg, who’s a sociologist, is the one who laid this out for me. She talked about the idea of fruitless frisks. What happens as crime goes down and there is a decline in the percentage of people you stop who are armed and up to no good? What are you supposed to do? Bratton’s answer to this is, the police had to be more active in responding. They had to say, I stopped you, because here is what we are searching for, someone who looks just like you. The police had to be more accommodating, more responsive when they stop people.
That’s what Bernard Kerik did. Kerik was the unacknowledged response to Diallo. Had Bratton stayed in office, I think we would have had tragic incidents in the second term but they wouldn’t have played out quite the same way.
Gotham Gazette: What do you think led to such an increase in racial tensions during that period? Do you think that it was the policing or, as you mentioned in your book, leadership from the black community?
Fred Siegel: It is a number of things. You have to remember how high racial tension was in the Dinkins years during the Crown Heights riot, during the Washington Heights beeper-boy-drug-runner’s riot, when Dinkins buries a drug dealer with honors. That’s an awful chapter in the city’s history.
Many people who opposed Giuliani in 1993 couldn’t make a good case about Dinkins, so they had to scare the hell out of people about Giuliani. He was going to bring fascism to the city. This was a common theme. And of course his behavior at that police riot, although the riot had occurred before he arrived, his vulgar language didn’t help that. But by and large, you had to tear Giuliani down; you couldn’t build Dinkins up. People were being asked to vote their fears not their hopes.
And it is important to remember that in 1993, the city was encased in pessimism. There was no sense that anything could be done. In fact, what people were afraid of was that if Giuliani would act he would set off even more riots. So there was this attempt from the start to say Giuliani was evil, especially [from Harlem Congressman] Charlie Rangel, who’s a much smoother version of Al Sharpton. He was constantly hammering at this kind of theme when the 125th Street murders take place.
Does everyone remember this -- the Freddy’s fire? This has been dropped down a memory hole at the New York Times. Here’s what happens essentially: In early 1995, Rudy Washington, little known deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration, was probably the toughest, gutsiest guy in an administration of tough guys. He is the guy that cleans up the Fulton Fish Market on the ground. Rudy Washington wants to go up to 125th Street because the merchants there are dying; the streets are covered with vendors, killing the merchants. There are feces on the street, there are rats, it feels like a third world situation. But every time the police come, Sharpton and his top aide Morris Powell, an escaped mental patient with a long history of violence, threaten violence.
Giuliani gets the Harlem pols to quietly agree in writing to say they won’t demagogue the issue if the police come in. The police come in, they clear the street. It allows for the revival of Harlem, along with what [housing commissioner] Debbie Wright did in housing.
Now Morris Powell is out of business. Freddy’s rent dispute comes along, Sharpton and Powell turn an ordinary rent dispute into a racial dispute. They are ranting outside about kill the Jews, kikes, blah, blah, blah -- same kind of stuff that occurred outside of Church Avenue [during the boycott of a Korean market] with a different kind of ethnic group. Seven people are killed. Charlie Rangel’s office is diagonally across the street. When it is over Charlie Rangel is very angry -- at Rudy Giuliani. He never holds Sharpton accountable; no one ever holds Sharpton accountable. But it’s because of what is done on 125th Street that Harlem has a chance to revive, despite the African American leadership.
Rob Polner: I covered Freddy’s fire as a reporter. That fire occurred around the corner from a police precinct. And the workers who were killed, the young people who were killed in that intentionally set fire amid this very heated racial situation, were afraid to go to work for several days because of the threats that were being made. But they had to go to work, so they came down from the Bronx and elsewhere, and several of them died. Rudy Giuliani escaped a lot of the blame for that, which I think he deserved.
Dinkins had created community liaisons to Harlem and many neighborhoods of the city to try to keep City Hall on top of what was going on. Rudy Giuliani was a very hyper-centralized mayor and everything had to come from him, so he basically dismantled all that. And he had no intelligence. So these threats were being uttered and Sharpton was out there and so was this crazy guy that Fred mentioned, Powell, and nothing was being done.
Now it happened over a relatively quick period, it wasn’t like the fiasco that was the Church Avenue situation with the Korean deli and the threat they received and all that, and Dinkins deserves a great deal of blame for that. But Giuliani had no intelligence so he couldn’t move in and he didn’t break it up. And guess what, a lot of people died. So why isn’t Giuliani being blamed for that?
Gotham Gazette: What about racial tension in general during the Giuliani administration?
Rob Polner: Rudy was a very, very polarizing and divisive figure for this town. And part of the reason was that, even after the conditions of the city had calmed down greatly, the police were continuing to go with these hard line tactics, where they stopped and frisked kids and adults, particularly in heavily black communities.
You can blame police chiefs for this but really Rudy should be blamed because if he’s going to get credit for the crime drop he has to take the blame for the effects of what the police call a toss.
There were estimates of as many as 100,000 stop-and-frisks of people because they didn’t fit a particular profile of a law abiding citizen -- they looked at you the wrong way, or they were wearing hip-hop clothing. I don’t know the numbers, because the police didn’t usually write a report about these stop-and-frisks. People were being stopped and frisked without reasonable cause or suspicion and thrown into jail, and they spent a night or two in jail and then the judges threw the cases out as absurd. It was an attempt to find people with outstanding warrants or guns -- tactics that, if you could argue were justified when there were 2,000 plus murders a year, should never have been justified in light of the huge crime drop.
That is one reason why the parents of young people who were black or Hispanic in this town, and maybe not wealthy, were very fearful and angry with Giuliani. By 9/10/2001 they wanted nothing more to do with him.
And there were other reasons. His administration was almost completely white. In his attempt to tweak liberalism at every possible opportunity, he attacked the foundation of institutions that, in this city, serve primarily the poor and people who are non-white. What do I mean by that? We talked about firing Bratton, but at the Board of Education Giuliani just went through chancellors like they were pencils. He shook it up and beat it up and by the second term he was back-filling all sorts of money into the Board of Ed, and [promoting] these novelty programs like vouchers that would appeal to Republicans because he wanted to run for the Senate.
He attacked CUNY and their funding base. Then of course he has taken credit for improvements in CUNY, which I personally think had less to do with the standards that were set for admission and more to do with changing population demographics of people attending CUNY.
What I am saying is that he attacked the institutions, and I would include welfare in this, that people who are black and poor or working class, relied upon and had relied upon for decades all in the name of reinventing the city, which he never did.
Gotham Gazette: Welfare reform is obviously one of the other polarizing aspects of the Giuliani administration. Do you think that one’s opinion as to how well welfare reform works here in New York is a result of what one’s ideological perspective is?
Rob Polner: I don’t think Giuliani came to office with the idea that he was going to slash the welfare rolls…Rudy Giuliani was basically a pragmatic politician who was fearful that he would be left more or less on the sidelines going forward as a liberal Republican in a Democratic city.
It was only after Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, and Clinton making welfare reform a federal law, that Rudy Giuliani embarked willy-nilly on a campaign to close the door to people seeking welfare. In the end Giuliani threw off 350,000-400,000 people without any real review, without any real ability for them to get any skills, without meaningful childcare. This is his legacy. When we look at the fact when Bloomberg came into office there was a record level of homelessness among families you have to look back on Giuliani’s policies on welfare as well as housing to help understand why that happened.
Fred Siegel: Let’s start with the last point first. The reason why homelessness increases under Bloomberg is because the doors are open again. One quarter of all people on homeless rolls were not in New York a month before they went on the homeless rolls. They were attracted here.
Let’s go back to welfare. Welfare supported the aspiring poor the way a rope supports a hanging man. It cut them off from the larger society, it cut them off from the larger life of the city. So in the midst of economic booms they stayed outside of the economy.
As to when welfare reform began, it began in the first year. Rob is misinformed here. The reason it doesn’t appear publicly is twofold. One, in order to do it you have to get cooperation from [the labor union] DC37. To put people in the parks doing cleanup work, pickup work, requires a series of complex labor negotiations. Those negotiations began about three or four months after he was in office.
What drives welfare reform well before Newt Gingrich arrives, well before George Pataki arrives, is the fact that the city can’t afford to have 1.1 million people on welfare, one out of every seven New Yorkers. It is simply not fiscally sustainable. That’s what drives it.
But it speaks to something fundamental about the Giuliani administration. There are many problems he doesn’t solve; I think this is entirely true. Successful cities have a succession of good mayors [and] improve themselves over a period of decades. What he did with welfare reform, he created alliances with some of the public sector unions against the social services industry.
New York is different than the rest of the country. We made poverty into an industry. We assumed the poor would always be poor and we created a whole job sector around poverty. Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice proudly says, “Poverty to New York is what oil is to Texas.” This is disastrous. This is what Jane Jacobs called transactions of decline.
Having done this, having played off some of the unions against the social services industry, what was on the plate for a successor were two things, particularly after 9/11 -- more productivity in labor contracts, more efficiency from the public sector, and transportation. The current mayor showed no interest in either of these things, rhetoric aside.
Murray Polner: I happen to be the father of Robert, Fred is a very old friend and I admire his book and all the work he has done. Could both of you address Giuliani and his attitude and his actions toward civil liberties in New York City.
Rob Polner: He likes my book too.
I just read in the paper that there was another court settlement that is costing the city millions of dollars for unwarranted strip searches by the police. This was one of the many, many civil liberties, I would say scandals, that occurred across the Giuliani administration.
He prevented people from having protests and from getting access to government records so they could gauge the credibility of his claims about his magical governance against the facts.
That was a problem with the Giuliani years. He was very, very restrictive about the flow of information. His commissioners spoke at the risk of being dressed down or removed if they said the wrong thing or if they spoke with too much candor. His mayoral management reports, which had actually really been under Dinkins fairly interesting tools for assessing the pluses and minus of city services neighborhood by neighborhood, were turned into basically propaganda, rosy -- and very thin --reports.
That was problematic with Giuliani. If he should run for President, I don’t think it will be golden years for civil liberties in America -- if he wins, that is.
"Virgin Mary" from Sensation Exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum. |
Guiliani's portrait on balls of dung from The American Effect at the Whitney Museum
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Fred Siegel: I used to write for Murray, Rob’s dad.
Much of what Rob just said is true, but you have to put it into context. The civil liberties union didn’t have a problem with incredibly high crime rates. ACLU’s take was, the police don’t bother the criminals and the ACLU won’t bother the police and everyone is happy -- except the population. This is not a viable situation.
Some of Giuliani’s abuse of civil liberties was entirely tactical… cynical. Take the Brooklyn Museum case [the Sensation exhibition], I’m surprised somebody didn’t bring it up.… Giuliani didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t going to change his position on abortion to get conservative Catholic voters so [he attacked the exhibition as anti-Catholic].
I think though you have to put some of the civil liberties questions in the context of A) the ideological extremism of the ACLU, which now opposes bag searches on the subways and, B) the fact that from 1995 on, Giuliani is getting intelligence reports that terrorists are interested in City Hall, are interested in lower Manhattan, and this plays into it.
Fred Siegel: I agree the mayor’s management report was gutted. Here I just want to put it in context. Giuliani governed against the grain of every major interest group in the city -- the left-wingers on the courts, the interest groups, the politicians in Albany, most of the politicians in the city. That is what made his accomplishment so extraordinary. So yeah, he was always fighting and the law department was crucial in not allowing liberal interest groups to govern through court decrees of the sort that had made welfare reform impossible, that made child welfare reform impossible. The reason we have child welfare reform in New York today is the civil liberties groups were pushed aside while the decision [by the courts to change the system] was allowed to expire. And [Administration for Children's Services Commissioner Nicholas] Scapetta reformed the delivery of services for child welfare.
My disagreement with Rob is fundamental I think. I think liberalism’s internal understanding of what it does and how it does it failed, and has never come to grips with that failure, never wanted to debate its failure. It is too easy to be critical of Giuliani. Giuliani was not a saint. He was an extraordinary manager who took on every major interest in the city and when he was in conflict with them he usually won.
Rob Polner: I think Giuliani had his own uses for special interests and for identity politics, the kind of thing that his predecessors got a lot of criticism for. Every single municipal union, I think, endorsed him for reelection. Did he run rough-shod over their interests as he approached reelection? No, his deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, was working out contracts and pension sweeteners and all sorts of raises with each of those unions to make sure that they were going to be on his side when he faced reelection in 1997.
He also rolled over for a lot of powerful interests in this town, developers, baseball team owners. And numerous corporate interests, particularly when it came time to giving out tax abatements and direct cash grants to companies, many of which had no intention of decamping for New Jersey or wherever. He just opened the city’s checkbook during a boom time. And gave out much more of the city’s tax dollars, or offered it, to very powerful interests that, arguably, didn’t need it. So I think it is fair to say that he had his own uses for special interests.
"What he didn’t do, he didn’t put identity politics at the core of his agenda. He said he’s going to try to govern one way for everyone in the city. "
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Fred Siegel On baseball, I think what Giuliani wanted to do with Yankee Stadium was indefensible -- moving the stadium, helping Steinbrenner. He doesn’t need the help.
[But] on real estate issues [in general], Rob is wrong. The real estate interests supported Dinkins in 1993; many of them supported Messenger. They did not like Giuliani. After [he broke up] garbage-carting cartel, the real estate interests did not support him. They were never close to him. They never liked him going back to his days as prosecutor when he took guys from Wall Street in handcuffs.
What he didn’t do, he didn’t put identity politics at the core of his agenda. He said he’s going to try to govern one way for everyone in the city. Did he always live up to that? Absolutely not. Was that more likely to be the case under Giuliani than say under Dinkins or under Bloomberg now? Absolutely.
Rob Polner: I think he [had his own identity politics]. He very often used race in a coded way to appeal to his own constituency. One of the ones that just jumps to mind was when the police sent a helicopter buzzing over a crowd at a particular noxious black separatist rally by a guy named Khalid Muhammad in Harlem and police jumped on the [stage] and threw over the chairs and pulled the plug on the system because they went over their time limit by a minute or two. What was the point of that, what did that do for the city?
What was the Brooklyn Museum all about? That wasn’t about...sending us a message about how we should run the city. That was about Rudy Giuliani running for the Senate and trying to appeal to Catholics around the state. And it was like acid rain on the city. We didn’t need one of our most venerable institutions, whatever you think of that show (and I didn’t think much of it), to be threatened with being shut down under what was clearly an affront to civil liberties.
Fred Siegel: Take the Khalid Muhammad thing. The tapes very clearly show Khalid Muhammad’s people throwing the chairs. Giuliani’s unwillingness to apologize for crazies – [his willingness] to cut off Al Sharpton, not take Sharpton seriously -- was one of the reasons he was a successful mayor.
Joan Decamp: I just want to speak about the business interests because Dinkins, who was certainly not a competent mayor, did have a small business office where if you had your own little business you could go and get help. When Giuliani came I don’t know what happened to that place, because I looked for it and I couldn’t find it, and we did need help with stuff. It just seemed as though small businesses were no longer the interest of that administration.
Fred Siegel: The trouble with what you are saying is the Dinkins small business office was mostly a place to put patronage employees; it had nothing to do with small business. What Giuliani did for small business is eliminate a lot of the harassment fines that Bloomberg has brought back.
Rob Polner: On small businesses: Rudy Giuliani was handed his first defeat in the City Council by a coalition of small businesses that opposed his proposal for big box stores that would be up to five football fields in size, about twice what Dinkins had pushed for. This is a city of small businesses once you get outside the Manhattan center and they did not view him as their friend.
It is true, there was a tremendous amount of patronage in Dinkins’ years and Rudy was right to target it rhetorically, but when he became mayor it was patronage galore. Not as soon as he became mayor but as time went on, there was a tremendous problem of patronage across the board. Lots of people who were hired were not qualified, particularly at the agencies that he didn’t particularly care about, the non-law enforcement agencies.
Fred Siegel: The problem of patronage is not going to be eliminated unless there is a competitive politics in the city that provides… accountability, which is very unlikely.
John Tepper Marlin: Mayor Giuliani at a large meeting said that the number one principle in his economic development policy was controlling crime. Do you think that is a fair statement on what he was doing?
Fred Siegel: I think you are absolutely right. He thought crime reduction [was economic development], and I think he was right. It used to be that developers were very chary about many neighborhoods in the city. Now I have developers saying “I can build anywhere in New York,” and I think that’s had a tremendous benefit.
…[On the other hand] Giuliani wanted to sell the [upstate reservoirs] in the first term because, again, the financial control board was coming down his neck. Alan Hevesi was running the comptroller’s office then, and he stopped it, and it was a very good thing that they curbed Giuliani when he wanted to take this foolish move.
Gotham Gazette: Mr. Siegel, you mention at the beginning of your book that New York, during the Giuliani years, was a stage for two competing worldviews. To both of you, what view of urban life and the way that a city should be governed do you think Giuliani left New York at the end of his term in 2001?
Fred Siegel: The key point is the notion of governability. [Before, people believed that] New York was the ungovernable city.
Let me get a little wonky for one minute. When Dinkins takes over, beating Koch, the city charter is revised and the old Board of Estimate, which requires logrolling to get anything done, is eliminated. The mayor becomes a much more powerful office. My book was originally much longer and I had many pages on the Board of Estimate. They’re all gone, virtually all gone; the editors said no one in their right mind would read it.
Dinkins never understood the new powers of the mayor over the budget. Giuliani understood them. I once gave him a tutorial on the city charter and I realized he knew more about the charter than I did. He was just looking for any small wrinkles that I could pick up.
To go back to what Rob said at the beginning: In that summer of the 2001 election, three of the four candidates wanted to continue Giuliani’s policies, as did 60 percent of Democrats. Giuliani, himself, was personally unpopular, as he should be, given what he did to his wife, but the sense was the city could be governed and we weren’t going to go back on welfare reform and crime. I think that was his legacy.
The problem is, there was much more to be done. When Bloomberg was asked what he had done for his first 100 days, he said “I prepared for the next 1,000.” He’s still not prepared.
Rob Polner: I agree with Fred that the former mayor did give the city some confidence that it could be governed. I think that was an important message to get across.
I’d like to think the city has matured a bit -- we don’t need a big man or protector to come over the hills and save us. This is a democracy. It’s not a monarchy or an oligarchy. We don’t need a showboat. We don’t need a mayor who has to put himself in the middle, melodramatically, of everything that goes on in this town.
Maybe this had its place for a while, but I think we’re better off without it, and I think Bloomberg, whatever his faults, understands that. He’s not driven by this idea of big personality or the need for constant conflict and contentiousness, and I think the city needed a rest.
Rudy fell down on issues that didn’t really lend themselves to law enforcement, to a big stick, to making a lot of noise. There are a lot of issues like that. He did not try to wean the city off of its heavy dependence on Wall Street. He did not try to develop or seed new sectors. He did not try to safeguard some of the manufacturing jobs, and there aren’t many of them left. And on and on.
We don’t need a big man as mayor, we need a government and public participation, and attention to these kind of nuanced problems that don’t necessarily lend themselves to big headlines. And, in part because the violence and the crime in the city have abated, this is the time to address them.
Giuliani's Legacy: The Second Most Effective Mayor Of The 20th Century, by Kenneth T. Jackson.
Giuliani's Legacy: A Change In The Way New Yorkers Think About Crime, Welfare, Quality Of Life, Squeegee Men, by John Tierney.
Giuliani's Legacy: Taking Credit For Things He Didn't Do, by Wayne Barrett.
(All three articles were written before September 11th, 2001)
There is no civil rights issue in this year's mayoral contest as explosive as the racial killings that decided the 1989 and 1993 elections. And both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the four Democrats seeking to replace him cultivate public images as supporters of civil rights and civil liberties. But the incumbent does have a different approach to how the power of the city can and should be used to achieve equal rights, going so far as to say that New York was wrong to have used its purchasing power to fight apartheid in South Africa. And the continuing concerns with security do present some disagreements. There are also differences between Bloomberg and his opponents on handling race relations, abortion, same-sex marriage, and other such issues.
Bloomberg has succeeded in reducing the temperature over race relations in the city from the Giuliani era, sometimes in symbolic ways, such as meeting with Giuliani’s nemesis, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and treating former Mayor David Dinkins with respect denied him by his predecessor. He also moved quickly to defuse the latest Howard Beach racial incident, saying the city would not stand for such things.
The Democratic hopefuls have long records of involvement with civil rights issues, but recent stumbles by some have hurt them with voters of color.
Fernando Ferrer, of Puerto Rican ancestry, created political trouble for himself when he told a police group that the cops who shot Amadou Diallo 41 times in 1999 were “over indicted” and did not commit a crime. The officers were found not guilty.
Ferrer, who had gotten himself arrested outside Police Plaza with those demanding indictments in the case in 1999, insists he never changed his view on the case, but that he did misspeak. With endorsements by African American leaders such as former State Comptroller H. Carl McCall and current City Comptroller Bill Thompson, the controversy has subsided somewhat.
But his leading African American rival, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, pounced on the issue by saying the police shooting “rises to the level of a crime.” Back in 1999, however, she refused to get arrested outside Police Plaza and referred to the case at a press conference as “an isolated tragedy.”
As for Gifford Miller, Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez noted recently “Miller was part of the [1999] press conference where Fields made her milquetoast remarks” about the case.
Bloomberg, a private citizen in 1999, took no public stand on the issue.
Fields’ involvement in the civil rights movement goes back to marching as a child with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in her native Alabama. Her latest and most publicized effort to show herself with broad multi-ethnic support became the low-point so far of her campaign. Press reports revealed that a piece of her campaign literature included a doctored photograph, the white supporters who had actually been in the picture replaced by Asian Americans, who told the press they didn't even support her.
Representative Anthony Weiner, the fourth Bloomberg opponent and an otherwise strong civil libertarian, has involved himself in the campaign to rid Columbia of professors he believes to be anti-Jewish and unfair in discussions of Middle East affairs.
One area where Bloomberg has a mixed record is restoring the City's Human Rights Commission. The Giuliani administration reduced the agency's budget by more than 75 percent, then perversely passed an amendment to the City Charter making it a charter agency that could not be dissolved without another amendment.
While Bloomberg made an initial move toward increasing its budget and installed more competent people to staff it, the agency continues to have a low public profile and budget.
The administration is also opposing passage of the Local Civil Rights Restoration Act in the City Council that supporters say would strengthen the existing law. If Miller follows through on his promise to get that bill passed soon, yet another confrontation with the mayor over civil rights would be set up during this campaign year.
In the wake of the London underground bombings, Bloomberg ordered random searches of the bags of people using public transportation here. It was condemned by conservatives as useless unless some sort of profiling was employed. The New York Civil Liberties Union raised concerns that the searching is "virtually certain neither to catch any person trying to carry explosives into the subway nor to deter such an effort" and argued that riders have been selected in a "discriminatory and arbitrary" manner.
Most of the public, shaken by what happened in London, is not raising objections to the searches.
In a July 28 mayoral race debate that Bloomberg did not attend, the Democrats attacked his approach. While not ruling out bag searches, Ferrer called it "'ridiculous as the centerpiece of an antiterrorism strategy," and proposed things such as more surveillance cameras, and more cops on transit.
Fields did criticize the bag searches, saying she had heard it would soon be discontinued, a fact disputed by the City Police Department.
Mayor Bloomberg, like his Democratic rivals, is a staunch advocate of a women's right to choose and has contributed personally over the years to abortion rights groups. The Abortion Rights Action League New York Pro-Choice , which endorsed Democrat Mark Green over Bloomberg in 2001, this time went for Bloomberg, especially praising his executive order requiring the training of resident doctors in abortion procedures, unless they have moral objections.
Fernando Ferrer attacked the abortion rights group for their endorsement, citing Bloomberg's personal financial support for a host of anti-choice politicians from President George W. Bush to Alabama Senator Richard Shelby.
Indeed, Bloomberg's role as the largest individual donor to the Republican Party in the nation -- he wrote a $7 million personal check to help underwrite the party's convention in New York -- is an issue for many civil liberties groups as the Republican-controlled White House and Congress renew the Patriot Act, limit abortion rights, try to pass a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, and promote conservative John G. Roberts for the United States Supreme Court.
Bloomberg went so far as to distance himself from the Roberts' nomination saying that if the judge would not state his position on Roe v. Wade, then he would oppose his confirmation.
For decades, the city government has used its contracting process to move social agendas. In the 1980s, it prohibited its contractors from doing business with South Africa's apartheid regime, nor with Northern Ireland unless the companies there complied with the McBride Principles that certified a commitment to treating the Catholic minority fairly.
Bloomberg has gone along with some of these contracting laws, signing the Living Wage bill that requires some classes of contractors to pay substantially more than minimum wage. But he drew the line at the City Council's Equal Benefits Law that requires contractors that offer benefits to the spouses of their employees to extend the same package to the domestic partners of workers.
Bloomberg vetoed the Equal Benefits Law, and when his veto over overturned, he began pursuing legal action in state court to prevent its implementation, saying it is illegal to require contractors to do anything more than provide the best service at the best price.
In June, Bloomberg was asked whether it was illegal for the city to have banned contractors from doing business with apartheid South Africa. While he said the city should not have done business with the apartheid regime, "the contracting process should never be used to advance social causes." Miller called Bloomberg's position on how to deal with apartheid "outrageous."
Bloomberg also criticized City Comptroller Bill Thompson and his own Finance Department for pushing shareholder resolutions to advance reform in the corporate world, but neither Thompson nor Finance Commissioner Martha Stark has discontinued the practice.
Bloomberg vetoed the Dignity in All Schools Act, an anti-bullying measure, and is refusing to implement it, saying that the Council had no legal right to dictate to his Education Department on such policies. His Democratic rivals are all strong supporters of the measure.
The Dignity law has prompted the Education Department to take more steps toward documenting and reducing bullying, but not all the ones specified in the law. Bloomberg, like his Democratic opponents, supports a state version of the law which has been held up in the Republican-controlled Senate. Given his control over city schools, he has yet to say why he has not simply ordered the department to implement the provisions of the bill.
Bloomberg is referred to commonly as a "pro-gay" Republican, but he has been so resistant to the issues pushed by New York's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement that the leading political group, the Empire State Pride Agenda endorsed one of his opponents, Gifford Miller, in June, an unusual step for the group. Bloomberg is supported by the gay Log Cabin Republican chapter, but all of the Democratic clubs are vigorously supporting his opponents.
Bloomberg ran in 2001 on a platform of supporting major gay initiatives, but despite his "promises kept" campaign theme, this is one area where even he acknowledges that he has backtracked. In 2002, he did fulfill a promise to sign a bill banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression, covering people of transgender experience. But since then, he has vetoed and opposed in court the two bills that he had supported as a candidate, one dealing with school bullying and the other with requiring contractors to provide domestic partner benefits.
All of the Democratic hopefuls strongly support the right of same-sex couples to marry, some like Miller pledging to start performing them on January 1 if elected.
Bloomberg has a record of avoiding the issue, making vague statements in the past about the government having no right to tell anyone who you should marry, but not supporting the gay marriage movement. He did oppose President Bush's push for a federal constitutional amendment banning it.
When, in response to a lawsuit, State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling Cohan ruled this March that New York City has to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Bloomberg appealed the decision, but declared himself in favor of the right to marry. He said that he had "no choice" but to appeal the ruling. Representative Barney Frank , an out gay Democrat from Massachusetts, publicly attacked Bloomberg's legal appeal of the ruling, calling it "terrible for us."
"The best way to win same-sex marriage-through the courts and politically-is when you're defending a reality," Frank said. "That's where Bloomberg undermined us."
All of the Democrats say they would drop Bloomberg’s appeal of the decision so that the city could open its marriage bureau to same-sex couples.
Andy Humm, a former member of the City Commission on Human Rights, has been in charge of the civil rights topic page since its inception in 2001. He is co-host of the weekly "Gay USA" on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (34 on Time-Warner; 107 on RCN) on Thursdays at 11 PM. Â
It was Tuesday morning in 1992 when I accompanied my newly naturalized mother to the polls on Election Day. She had not wanted to vote since she was unaccustomed to the tradition and process of electing a representative and she was not exactly fluent in English. So at the tender age of ten, I offered to go with her. At the polling site, although I provided limited assistance, my presence made her feel more comfortable. But it is this same fear and intimidation that prevents the rest of my family, my aunts and uncles, from heading to the polls on Election Day-- in essence disenfranchising them.
Every fall millions of voters, such as my mom, brave the intimidations and frustrations of voting to cast a ballot. Here in New York City, about twenty-five percent of voters need language assistance. But that’s no surprise in NYC, a bastion of ethnic diversity. What is alarming is the lack of assistance provided to these citizens who wish to vote.
Congress initially addressed the needs of language minority citizens to access the polls in 1975 when it amended the Voting Rights Act. The Section 203 amendment established a formula to determine jurisdictions that must provide materials, instructions, and assistance relating to the electoral process in the applicable minority language, in addition to English.
As a result of the federal legislation, the New York City Board of Election was required to provide language assistance in Spanish for all five boroughs and Chinese for Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. After the 2000 Census, Korean was added for language assistance in Queens County. (In PDF Format)
Despite the institutionalized mandate of providing language assistance at the polls, voters needing such assistance still find themselves alone on Election Day.
According to 2004 survey (In PDF Format) by The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, over 46 percent of first time Asian voters needed language assistance at the polls.
“I was very scared to vote by myself and no one was there to help me. The workers always speak so fast and I never know where to go,” recalled Wun S. Li, a voter in Brooklyn, in Chinese.
There are two main reasons for this inattention towards these voters. Just enough interpreters are recruited to work on Election Day, thereby filling the minimum number of positions allocated by the Board of Elections. However, not all of those interpreters assigned to work actually turn out to do so, with only 54 percent turnout of Chinese interpreters, 60 percent of Korean Interpreters and 61 percent of Spanish interpreters in the 2004 General Elections. With no standby pool to offset the absences, many election districts find themselves incapable of assisting non-English proficient voters.
Secondly, under Section 203, the covered language minorities are limited to American Indians, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Spanish-Heritage citizens- “groups that Congress found to have faced barriers in the political process.” Other citizens, who lack English proficiency but fall in the language categories outside these four, are disenfranchised due to literacy inadequacies. According to the New York City Department of City Planning, the addition of Russian, Italian and Haitian Creole will cover over 82 percent of the eligible voter pool that is not English proficient. Meanwhile, the three current languages cover only about 66 percent of those in need of assistance.
Onida Coward-Mayers, the executive director of the Voter Assistance Commission, proposes that “strengthening New York City’s pollworker pool with bilingual individuals will reduce potential barriers and provide voters with the appropriate access to the polls.”
Because of such needs, Citizens Union Foundation has incorporated interpreter recruitment into its third Poll Worker Recruitment Drive. The organization has recruited over 1,000 poll workers including 200 Election Day language interpreters as we strive toward a goal of 1,500 poll workers. If you are interested in becoming a poll worker or language interpreter, you can apply online at www.citizensunionfoundation.org/pollworker or call 212-227-0342 (x31).
Amy Ngai is the Poll Worker Recruitment Program Co-ordinator at the Citizens Union Foundation
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The four Democratic candidates for mayor discussed issues of historic preservation at a series of forums hosted by coalition of groups, including Landmark West, the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy. The following is an edited transcript of the candidate's opening remarks and a sample of some of the questions from the audience.
Other Candidates Speeches |
Over the course of public life, I have been engaged, certainly in the Bronx, in saving and preserving a lot the things that are completely irreplaceable. I could list a record of them, but I don't view them as a record. I view them as my opportunity to demonstrate some responsible custodianship of the irreplaceable treasures that I was trusted with as borough president for nearly 15 years.
For example, I don't know how many of you have been to the Stanford White Hall of Fame complex at the old New York University campus at University Heights, now Bronx Community College. That complex has been restored and one of the joys I had as borough president was allocating the funds to restore the auditorium firebombed during the Vietnam War protest below the library. That auditorium was priceless. A real gem. And after the firebombing and the fire damage in the 1970s it was ' NYU had done some really horrible fix up on it that lasted until the 90's ' well, it was restored not to its original appearance, because I really wanted it restored to the way it was when I was a freshman going in for orientation, but they did even better. This is a real living part of Bronx legacy.
What's even more amazing is the report on the Daniel Moynihan train station, if it gets built in our lifetimes. The old post office ' they are reserving a back portion of it for high-rise residential development. They are looking to take a piece of that, to cut into the soaring public space inside a newly redesigned station to accommodate this building. Now that's the thing the landmarks commission was created for and that's the thing that landmarks preservation movements were created for. To have that restored to a Penn Station, the kind of Penn Station that this city and region deserve, and then have that basically chopped into, just to make someone a few million dollars on the west side of Manhattan is absolutely horrible and must be stopped.
We share a mutual belief about preserving the physical heritage of this city. I believe in those things deeply. I've acted them out in my time in public office. And the evidence of that is not a press release, or a ribbon cutting, or a photo opportunity. It is the buildings that we have saved, and the fights that we have won, and some of the fights that we were not completely successful in. I consider it unfinished business to fix PS 31; to get the old Bronx borough courthouse out of private hands and put it back in public hands; to restore that extraordinarily beautiful beaux-arts courthouse structure and return it to community and civic use. Those are the things that governments do with that kind of heritage and that kind of opportunity.
In 2001, Mike Bloomberg spent $74 million of his own personal fortune to get elected. And he rationalized that by saying, I need this to let people know who I am. Well fair enough. I would like to think that the public record I have put together as a public servant over the course of 20 years is worth $74 million, but if he wants to put that kind of price tag on it, God bless.
In 2005, he says, I want to spend $100 million or more. Now I believe that's to try to make you all forget who he has been in the last three and a half years. I think just that statement, that sentiment under-rates New Yorkers. I think you have seen that the mayor has turned his back nearly completely on the promises he has made about preserving historic New York and doing the things he needs to do as a custodian of this city. For example, convening a hearing. What is so difficult about this? It's moving the machinery of government to protect something.
Let me talk for a second about 2 Columbus Circle. That's a controversial building, a controversial design. Some people like it some people don't. After more than 40 years, some people still like it, some people don't. And then you are reminded on the streetscape of Fifth Avenue ' what would our collective judgment have been, not seeing the building but just the design of the Guggenheim? Some people would have hollered, that just doesn't fit on Fifth Avenue! And this is somebody's egocentric expression of art deco fringe stuff? Others would have seen the building and said, how could this iconic example of someone's creativity, a statement about that moment in our design history, not be on Fifth Avenue? I'm glad the latter attitude won out, because that's what makes this city so very special. 2 Columbus Circle might not be everybody's cup-of-tea, but that building is one of the things that makes this city special, and it should be preserved.
Q: What would you do about Governors Island?
Ferrer: As mayor, I'd want to see what the restrictions for use are for it. If they restrict opportunities, we need to really develop that, and use it, for example, for residential and institutional use ' by institutional, I mean higher education, if that is possible, but certainly residential. That would be a lovely place. There's housing there already. It's an extraordinary opportunity. When the governor and the mayor announced that they were moving forward on some planning for Governors Island, I was talking with some friends of mine and said, 'Well, not unless they can plan an Olympic venue there.' And it turned out to be more true than not. If it didn't have any interest for the Olympics, it fell to the back burner. By the way, if you look at every development decision in this city, if it had nothing to do with the Olympics, it didn't get planned. The decision didn't get made. It's extraordinary what the threshold for making choices is in this city. In any case, I'd look at it for residential use. People don't have enough places to live in this city already.
Q: The city has never done a survey of schools to find out which ones are historic, which ones are eligible for the national register. Will you press for that survey, order the survey, maintain our schools ' the historic schools that we do have ' and would you welcome a landmarks commissioner that presses the city to care for its own landmark property?
Ferrer: Well, as mayor, I'd just allocate the money and get the school rebuilt. Now, by the way, I'm astounded that the landmarks community has not beat this mayor up about this issue. He complains ' he speaks sometimes movingly ' about school overcrowding. PS 31 and PS 109 lay empty. How does he rationalize not fixing those two schools up, especially PS 31? It's of extraordinary landmark importance. It is a designated landmark. You can ask anybody about that and they'll say, 'You know I'll do it,' but this is a challenge, also, for the landmarks community, too ' for the preservation community. It's a challenge for the preservation community to hold this mayor's feet to the fire. I mean, that the building has been empty for five or more years on Grand Concourse is a disgrace. An absolute disgrace.
Q: Will you promise to guarantee us a commission that will work in a partnership with the preservation community, here and everywhere?
Ferrer: That's the way I've conducted my public life and my public service. I think you need to understand that this is part of a larger issue that I have with this mayor. We're all employees of the wholly owned subsidiary of Bloomberg Inc. Decisions will be made top-down. It is amazing. You want to get things done, and I want to get things done, too. And I believe things aren't necessarily top-down. Sometimes they bubble up from communities. That's the way it ought to be working. He's changed that way of looking at life in this city in the most subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Here we're talking about a prime example of it, but we're hitting the wrong target: the commission members and who he appoints. But it's the mayor, it's his attitude. How many of you, by the way, believe that's a problem, that the landmarks commission will not hear these things because it's all top-down? And how many of you are prepared to run this mayor back to his private business at the end of this year? If I don't see the exact same set of hands here, there's a problem here. There's a disconnect.
Q: The chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission has said that, if you look at Manhattan, it has more protected landmarks than the Bronx, Staten Island, and Queens combined. Do you believe that this unequal protection under the law is a crime? And what would you do to change and address the fact that some people who live in some neighborhoods get landmarking and other people don't?
Ferrer: People who've worked with me to try to designate the Grand Concourse as a historic district, to protect the nature and quality of those art deco buildings ' in fact, the largest collection of art deco facades anywhere, right there on the Grand Concourse ' they'll remember our efforts to try to do it and Rudy Giuliani's successful efforts to prevent that. And there were others as well. Yankee Stadium would be a great place, well, for obvious reasons ' although I'm angry at them for the last nine or ten games ' to landmark. I've never believed they should leave that stadium. It's a perfectly fine place to watch a baseball game. That should be part of our outlook on landmarking as well.
That Manhattan has many more designated landmarks than all the other boroughs is troubling, because ' I presume you know ' I know that communities outside of Manhattan have some extraordinary historic buildings that need to be preserved, that require the protection of our Landmarks Preservation Commission. The landmarks commission has done studies of all the boroughs. These studies are quite old. When I was borough president, I appointed a landmarks task force to review that study and begin to advance to the designation process. A lot of those structures required our help and it seemed that the landmarks commission was absolutely uninterested in doing that. I believe that's got to change. The job of the landmarks commission is to designate and protect.
Q: Over the coming years, the Catholic Church, obviously, is going to be closing many parishes and Protestant congregations are dwindling, but the historic church buildings are significant features of many of these neighborhoods. There is reluctance on the part of the commission to get involved in this. It is a very touchy issue. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Ferrer: Well, it's a touchy issue. I understand it, because with designation and protection never came any grant money. That's not right. You have not-for-profit institutions that have a building that has to be protected. They'd agree that it would, but they'd also agree that they haven't got the ability to pay for it. Well, it is in the public interest to designate. It is in the public interest to protect. It is in the public interest to preserve ' especially those beautiful buildings that cannot support their own preservation. I think what the preservation community did with St. Thomas Church in Harlem, for example, was extraordinary. And that church was going to be flattened.
Q: How can the Landmarks Preservation Commission that only has a $3 million budget really be potent in the face of these $100 million plans that developers are coming forward with?
Ferrer: There are two parts to this answer. The answer is they can't. Not at that level of resources, certainly not at that level of commitment. I want to re-resource that agency and re-empower that agency, and I'm going to give you a challenge right now. Anybody who comes to this microphone in the future and anyone who has had anything to do with this city, ask them why they didn't.
Q: What would you do as mayor to strengthen community-based planning and the ability of community boards to fulfill their planning capacity?
Ferrer: I'd start abiding by the city charter. Section 197A of the city charter is pretty clear to me. And my philosophy of governing is really very simple. I don't think that things get done at their best top-down. I think the strength of this city is neighborhoods ' and they've been doing this for quite some time ' being active and equal participants in planning for their own destiny. That's the way I approach planning in my own borough. When we developed the Melrose Commons plan collaboratively with the community, they made tough decisions with us around the same table ' and it worked. It got national awards, and it was the right thing to do. Similarly it's the right thing to do to abide by 197A plans. They are, and they represent, probably the best example of communities getting involved and planning for their own future.
Q: What would you do, if elected, that would create something of a comprehensive plan for the city so that there aren't these spot zonings, major neighborhood-wide rezonings that are surprises to communities that they have to respond to in the form of protest.
Ferrer: It's happening all over the city, obviously. First of all, let's take the Olympics as a case. I think it's been pretty clear that it was right ' the observation that any development decision that has nothing to do with the Olympics is not going to get made.
For example, the extension of the number seven subway line. Now, I think extending subway service to the far west side is a fabulous thing to do. It's a great investment in the economic future of the city. And you intentionally bypass Penn Station? Even a novice transportation planner will laugh you out of their office. It makes no sense. One of the most important transportation hubs in this or any other region, and you bypass it? You bypass New Jersey transit, Amtrak, and Long Island Rail Road? It makes absolutely no sense. But when you look at it in terms of what they're trying to plan for the Olympics ' it will create the Olympic express.
And, of course, this is the mother of all real estate deals. Ah, then it makes perfect sense. It has nothing to do with transportation. It has nothing to do with the efficient, effective, and affordable moving of people around this city and around this region to enhance our economy. Now that's a shame.
We should have some standards for planning. One of them: does it have a use for this city? I'm sure most of you would agree with me that, well, what city would not be proud to host the Olympics? It would be great. Can we manage to plan for facilities that have some opportunity for re-use after the two weeks of the Olympics are over? That won't be costing us money simply to maintain and never use?
Can we use this as an opportunity to build great halls, great schools, and great recreation centers, rebuild our aging and falling apart armories that are historic buildings all over this city? I just think there's a different and better way to approach this. Were I putting forward an Olympic plan for, well, maybe not 2012, but 2016, I'd want communities and public officials to be collaborating in this.
The worst thing that you could do is put forward a plan in secret. The mayor says, over a year ago, it's a completely private deal, we have nothing to do with this. He said that. It's a matter of the public record. Anybody remember that?
There's something else that's part of it that didn't quite make the cut of letting the public know. They put the Bronx house of detention, a public building, in that development package. Wait a minute, this isn't a completely private deal anymore. This is a public deal. Do you remember a council hearing on this issue? Any land use hearings? Any borough president hearings? Any community board hearings? Zero. This isn't Dan Doctoroff's personal real estate. It belongs to the city of New York.
People of this city have at least a right to participate in the planning of their own destiny, in being involved in public processes, in putting forward their own ideas for the future of their neighborhoods, and boroughs, and their city. I just see it coming from a different direction. And I think, from my direction these are sustainable plans. These are sustainable because people own them.
It isn't owned by an unseen, unelected committee of high rollers. It's owned by people right in the neighborhood. It's owned by people who you trust, who you've elected to represent you in your own neighborhood. There's accountability. There's open process. There's an opportunity to react to these plans. There's an opportunity to change them, an opportunity to discuss and debate them. That's as it should be. When we talk about this or any other problem of this city today, you've really got to ask yourself, who are these people?
Q: Could you say something about your strategy and your reflections on the future of lower Manhattan given the impasse over the last three and a half years? How would you envision moving ahead constructively in the best interest of the city in the redevelopment of lower Manhattan?
Ferrer: I remember vividly, after 9/11, everybody was rushing forward with their own plan, their own vision for the old World Trade Center site. I'd come from a planning background, so I'd come up with a different sort of planning framework which was, we've got to build there, we've got to restore this, and that's a lot of office space, a lot of commercial space, and the centerpiece of a marketplace down there in lower Manhattan that is still yet to recover.
At the very same time, the people, the private businesses, the employees who occupied those 11 million feet of office space were about ready to walk out the door. We didn't have enough swing space to accommodate them. I wanted to try to accommodate them in places like the far west side of Manhattan. I'd build class-A office space, keep them there while we proceeded rebuilding lower Manhattan, because we would require people not to make just a momentary commitment, but a generational commitment to lower Manhattan.
Places like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, we needed to get them around the table to stay for not five years or ten years, but for a generation and more to make this work. I think there was certainly the willingness to make that happen. Well, that's what I purposed, and I got barbequed for it. I got barbequed for it, because I acknowledged that most financial services companies will not put every employee they have in one location. They've been dispersing for very interesting sets of reasons. Well, we've got to accommodate that as well. We want buildings that will make an important architectural statement, and a statement about us as people on that site, and we want to do that as promptly as we can, and as effectively and efficiently as we can. But we also want to create a healthy and realistic marketplace for everybody in which to survive and thrive. That's the over-arching idea.
That not one brick has been laid on another in three and a half years has to amount to the worst failure of leadership I have ever seen. The worst. Everybody roles out a new plan, has a new press conference. God almighty. How many news articles have we read about trips to visit other Olympic venues? Come to Athens. The international Olympic committee is coming here. And we haven't laid one brick on another at the old World Trade Center site? You talk about priorities. This is one of the most glaring examples I've seen as a citizen of this city of the kind of inertia on a public work so important, where there was such unanimity about what we needed to do. Extraordinary. Nobody agrees on anything in this city, and yet we agreed on that. We agreed on that, and nothing has been done. It's extraordinary. We wasted three and a half years on a football stadium on the west side of Manhattan and on the rest of this stuff, and we ended up wasting everybody else's time. Extraordinary.
Q: What are your plans for lower Manhattan?
Ferrer: I think we should rebuild the 11 million feet of office space. I think that's important. The developers need to get very busy about pricing. Given that they are getting incentives that are extraordinary, they need to get busy about pricing and tenant it up. That 7 World Trade Center has no anchored tenants is bewildering to me. I think we've got to replace that office space.
Having agreed on the master plan developed by Libeskind, we should proceed. We really should. New Yorkers need to make that statement, at that place. And we need to do it promptly. If you are troubled by my not being more specific with you, let me tell you, it's not my job to be more specific with you ' whether it's 11 million or 12 million feet of office space, who I want to tenant those buildings. Not our job. We've got to work very closely with the development community and with the Port Authority and with our state partners on that.
But that we haven't even paid attention to it as a government in this city, that we haven't been rolling it along, that everything seems to be an obsessive quest for a stadium and for where we're going to host the Olympic javelin throw ' that's a monumental waste of our time and this city's emotional commitment to rebuilding lower Manhattan.
I think what the mayor should do there is work with governors to make sure it gets done, to make sure everyday we're doing the things that need to be done. Let me give you one other example, because it is a complex matter. When the Goldman Sachs project ' now in a little bit of jeopardy ' was first reported, it was reported that they objected to the tunnel that was placed under their building.
They're going to pull out a $2 billion development for 6,000 to 8,000 employees; that was their generational commitment to lower Manhattan. Was no one paying attention to the issues that had developed with respect to the underpass under them? Well, let's talk about the Freedom Tower for a second. It was reported again, that Police Commissioner Kelly had interposed these security concerns nearly 18 months ago.
Q: What would you do as mayor to change the plan for the West Side of Manhattan?
Ferrer: First of all, I wouldn't waste my time on a West Side stadium, building a publicly funded private stadium that absolutely nobody will be able to get into. I would use those governmental and personal resources to get the World Trade Center rebuilt, and to do development on the west side as it should be done. There are some really strong opportunities there. The first few days of February, I called for all the evangelists of free and open market ' I figured all the editorial boards on the right would love this one. Those thirteen or sixteen acres above the Hudson Yards? Have an open, competitive, national and international bid for them. Get everybody in here. Give the MTA maximum value for the last valuable publicly owned asset on this island: the yards. That helps our transit system so that we can fix tracks and switches, relays and stations. But also, it gives us the opportunity to create another city on the far west side of Manhattan, and to do it right. To build a community with housing, and people, and schools, and healthcare. And to do it with people, not in secret. You can't build in secret. This isn't a wholly owned subsidiary of Bloomberg, Incorporated. You can't just swoop down with plans and say this is going to happen because I said it's going to happen. This is a city where people have something to say about their neighborhoods and the contours of their lives.
Q: Preservation is not just a landmark commission issue, but an issue of the people that use the landmarks. Will you focus on some kind of educational program for the people, perhaps with some kind of agreement with the schools?
Ferrer: I'm not sure that I can get my arms around your entire question, but if you are talking about an aspect of our education in this city that should to relate to what is loosely called 'civics' and that being part of it, yes.
But I've believed that for a long time. There was, some of you might recall, a sample curriculum developed some years ago for use in our public schools about landmarks in this city, about the city's cultural heritage. I think that's an important thing. Kids should grow up in our public school system knowing about this extraordinary city in which we live.
Just a quick story. As an undergraduate, I went to NYU at University Heights, when NYU used to be in a good neighborhood, in the Bronx. The reason I became fascinated with that school was ' and it's a very odd reason. Anybody remember at around 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock in the morning ' this was a long time ago ' on PBS they had something called sunrise semester? You're now telling me how old you are, cause they don't show that anymore. And do you remember the graphic that they had? It was the hall of fame. I was always fascinated by that place. I never knew where it was. When I found out it was in the Bronx, I made it my business to go.
Q: To turn the subject back to 2 Columbus Circle, I'm wondering ' after you've saved the building from being renovated ' what you plan on doing with it then.
Ferrer: I wouldn't move the Convention and Visitor's Bureau back in. There is opportunity to do some important things there. We'd take a look at it. The impulse is to give you an instant, off-the-cuff idea. I just don't think that works. And I think we've got to do that in consultation with an awful lot of people, but it's an extraordinary landmark. It's an extraordinary opportunity for use of a building in that strategic part of Manhattan.
Q: Major institutions with important boards can get any special permits, variances, and certificate of appropriateness they want from the various agencies because of their power. I'd like your suggestions on balancing that.
Ferrer: Let me give you an example in the Bronx again. Anybody remember the Fordham radio tower that was right across the street from the Botanical Gardens? If you were standing behind the conservatory, you could see the thing stick right out of the dome.
The respected boards of Fordham and the garden were fighting, and that's too bad, because there are good people on both boards. I think this was a bad decision, but they were good people ' people who had an interest in not only staying in the Bronx, but making the Bronx better. I understood that.
The radio tower was bad. We had to take a stand on it, and I didn't concern myself with people given contributions to me when I was borough president on one board or another.
You try to do what's right. The essence of your question seems to assume that anybody will do anything for a campaign contribution. I want to help you with that. Hold your public officials accountable and tell them to take a stand. Nobody had to tell me to take a stand on that radio tower. I tried to do what was right, and, eventually ' after a long, protracted, and expensive battle ' they finally did what was right.
Other Candidates Speeches
' C. Virginia Fields:Looking Beyond the Big Ticket Items
' Gifford Miller: Updating the Landmarks Law
' Anthony Weiner: Old New York as a Gateway to the new New York
The four Democratic candidates for mayor discussed issues of historic preservation at a series of forums sponsored by coalition of groups, including Landmark West, the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy. The following is an edited transcript of the candidate's opening remarks and a sample of some of the questions from the audience.
Other Candidates Speeches |
The issues surrounding preservation and the landmarks, to me, provide the perfect metaphor for what I argue is the problem with the Bloomberg administration. It really comes down to three fundamental things that I talk about everywhere on the campaign trail. First of all, I believe that we have somehow internalized this notion that the only way to run New York City is to put blinders on when you're at City Hall, put your head down, and barrel into problems, consulting as few people as possible. I think Rudy Giuliani instilled that in us with his notion that in order to make an omelet, you've gotta break a lot of eggs. And Mike Bloomberg has continued the tradition of eschewing democratic - with a small 'd' - institutions as a way of making decisions.
In New York, we have the most creative land use planners, the most creative architects, and the most creative urban planners. If we took the 50 most brilliant New Yorkers in those fields, put them in a room and said 'We have a couple dozen acres on the west side of Manhattan, with unobstructed four-directional views. Come up with the most creative, most beneficial use of that land.' Do any of us think that they would have emerged with a stadium as an idea for that land? It never would have happened.
It's not just a matter of process. If you think about it, it's a matter of real dollars and cents. Mayor Bloomberg, when he constructed this effort to by-pass public input, he suggested that we get $100 million for the land over the Hudson rail yards. Some people literally believe it is worth about $1 billion. How does Mayor Bloomberg explain why he was prepared to sell something for $100 million that is actually worth closer to $1 billion?
His apparent sense that these democratic institutions are not helpful also can be seen in education policy. He didn't consult teachers, didn't consult principals, and didn't consult other elected officials when reorganizing the school system. And almost to a person, teachers say the system is worse off, and some of the best, most senior teachers are being driven from the system.
You see the exact same thing when it comes to landmarks decisions, when it comes to preservation decisions. There are decisions that are being made without even public hearings. Public hearings are messy, they're contentious, and they may slow things down. But they make them more New York. We are a city that should not eschew those democratic processes. We should embrace them.
A second thing that his approach to landmarks shows is that Mike Bloomberg believes that passive is better than active and aggressive when you're the mayor of the city of New York. The most important example of this is how we get rolled by Albany, rolled by Washington because the mayor has adopted this philosophy that I'm going to raise money for my Republican friends, I'm going to throw a large convention for my Republican friends, and just hope for good things to happen.
And is there better evidence of that philosophy than lower Manhattan? You know, Mike Bloomberg essentially, and he doesn't even deny it all that much anymore, made this deal. He said to Governor Pataki, let me develop the far west side of Manhattan, let me pursue my Olympic dream, and you, Governor Pataki, you take care of lower Manhattan. Any New Yorker, any resident of New York City that doesn't realize it's a mistake to entrust Governor Pataki with anything to do with New York City honestly doesn't deserve to be a public official in New York City.
I mean, when was the last time Governor Pataki got up in the morning, dressed and looked in the mirror, and said 'I'm going do something good for New York City this morning?' It never happens.
'I drive by the far West Side and I see that giant glass thing they are building there and I'm sure someone thinks it's very attractive, and Sean Penn will be very happy living there I'm sure, but you know the real Greenwich Village is not that.' |
So, this notion that you just sit back and hope that good things happen might be the ethos that works in the business community that Mayor Bloomberg thrived in, but it doesn't work when it comes for advocating for New York City.
And if you think that it's just a matter of style over substance, think about this: imagine, for a moment, if Mike Bloomberg stood up at the Republican National Convention and said 'Come to our hotels, our fine restaurants, visit out cultural institutions, and oh, by the way, it's an outrage that we've been short-changed $1.7 billion in the No Child Left Behind Act. It's a crime the way you're playing immigrants against one another in order to get votes. And the way you've short-changed us on anti-terrorism money is a sin.' What would it have done? Visualize that for a moment. It would have elevated those issues, not just to the front page of New York City newspapers. It would have been all of the talk of the country for the next three or four days. President Bush would have had to insert a line in his speech about how we're going try to make it up to New York in the future. You would have had delegates scrambling around, how do we respond to this?
Active is better than passive, and the same is true when you're trying to preserve the fundamental beauty of New York City. You cannot simply sit back and say make these decisions based on the next bid for the next building. We're going to wait to see what type of community uprising leads to the next preservation movement. Preservation and planning has to be an active endeavor. You cannot simply sit back. By it's very nature, preservation fails if you are reacting rather than being proactive.
The third argument I'm going to make throughout this campaign - and I'm going to make it in the context of land use decisions and everything else - is that we need, we, as Democrats in particular, but I think all of us in this city, are entitled to have a campaign based on the notion that ideas matter.
What you're going to do for the next four years matters. I've put out a book of 50 new ideas. We put it out about four months ago. I've given nine policy speeches. The New York Times called me the 'wonk' of the campaign, although that was probably something that would get me beaten up growing up in Brooklyn, being called the 'wonk,' but it's something I take great pride in. On that issue after issue, I have said what the next four years are going to be about. And I don't know how many of you speak Spanish, I don't speak it very well, but the ads he's been running in Spanish has a tag line which is something like 'The best is yet to come.'
I have yet to hear Mike Bloomberg articulate his vision for the next four years in this city. Does it include changes to the education system? What are his development initiatives that he's going to put forth beyond the Olympic games? What is his vision?
In my first speech about economic development in all five boroughs, I said that I believe it is time for a comprehensive rezoning of the city of New York. It's required every 40 years or so, history tells us. The last time was 1961 when we did a comprehensive rezoning. It is a gut-wrenching, painful, agonizing, controversial thing, but it's necessary. We are, right now, allowing the most fundamental decisions about the character of our communities to be made in the most ad hoc of basis. I don't think that's the way to do things.
I think we have to make some fundamental decisions, not just about how we preserve the fundamental nature of communities. I represent neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens where the landscape is changing day-by-day, by default.
We have homes in Manhattan Beach, for example, completely according to the contextual zoning, and people are building on their front lawns. It's not prohibited, but who ever would have imagined you'd want to? Whoever imagined that this bungalow community of 30 years ago would now have homes selling for $1 million? Who would imagine that the land is so valuable in Douglaston, or in Sheepshead Bay, or in Staten Island that people would raze these beautiful homes and build on every square inch these most ugly, boxy McMansions?
In order for us to deal with these things, we can't just say 'Ocean Parkway needs a rezoning, let's go do it' or 'Douglaston needs a preservation movement, let's go do it' or 'the west side has beautiful buildings that are now being consumed by the sky-rocketing property values.' I believe part of leadership in this city is saying we have specific ideas going forward and, even if they're difficult, we have to pursue them.
One of the things that I will be doing after I'm elected is appoint a commission to start the task of rezoning the city, and looking at where we want light manufacturing to exist or where maybe housing should be permitted to go, where the heavy manufacturing zones are. Do a comprehensive analysis of where the brownfields are, and how we, as the city, state, and federal government can help make those lands useful again. We have to start taking a look at the west side of Manhattan. We have to take a look at things like the community here and 2 Columbus Circle, and say at the very least, let's have a hearing, let's see what people have to say, and let's have a discussion about the outcomes.
One of the things that I would hope all New Yorkers would demand in this election, not only from those of us who are challenging Michael Bloomberg, but from the mayor himself, is to ask: What is your vision going forward? Does it include closed-loop insider decision-making? Does it include back-on-your-heels, sit-back-and-see-what-happens types of decisions, rather than being active and aggressive? What are your specific plans?
I think we need to change the way we've done things on all three levels.
Q: When any major development is undertaken in New York, as you know, there needs to be an Environmental Impact Statement produced to assess among other thing the historic resources in the area of development. But these statements seem to be coming up with fewer and fewer historic resources. In the case of Williamsburg/Greenpoint, the impact statement came up with 18 historic resources, 11 of which were already designated as historic landmarks. The Municipal Art Society went out with the help of Columbia University students and identified 55 resources and 2 historic districts. So my question to you is, what do you think the root of this problem is? And where do you think the responsibility lies for doing better ones and how would you go about making that happen?
Weiner: That's a great question. I think over the course of time, Environmental Impact Statements have become more and more tools of development rather than what they were intended to be, which is kind of a stopgap to make sure that questions were raised and addressed. How I would address this problem is fundamentally providing much more transparency throughout these processes and using technology and public input to be able to do a lot more of these things.
I'll give you an example. If an Environmental Impact Statement was constructed for the West Side of Manhattan or for Williamsburg that invited people to submit historic locations, landmark locations, perhaps 'undiscovered jewel' locations in our communities and that public document became completely transparent, it would put pressure on those who produce the statement to either justify or reject them for some good reason.
I think that kind of public input would help. But I'll tell you, this is the tip of a larger problem. Overall, I would argue that government in recent years has gotten less and less and less transparent, despite the idea that technology makes it easier to be more and more and more transparent. And one of my greatest disappointments with Mike Bloomberg is, putting party affiliation aside, he seemed to be a reform guy. He was self-funded. He wasn't a Democrat or a Republican and he wasn't really from the institutional machines. He seems like he would be the perfect type of agent to truly reform and open up government, give us more input and give institutions like this greater say, not necessarily have your way all the time, but greater say.
I would argue that this administration has become more closed with information than ever before, and doesn't make the use of technology that would be the most valuable. You know he brags, Mike Bloomberg does, about the 311 system. You know if I had a business and I opened up a complaint box that got 5 million complaints every year, I'm not sure I'd be bragging about it. But at the very least, perhaps what he should do is take the 311 line and make some of the reports more public, maybe that would be a good indicator to the rest of us about whether things are going as well as he suggested. But one of the things that I would do on Environmental Impact Statement is to make the process more open to community input. If you are a resident in the community or a historian in the community and you know of locations, you report them to us, give us the historical significance and then as part of the statement we should have to respond to that.
Q: What reforms of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, their rules, or even reform of the law itself do you propose?
Weiner: At a very fundamental level, these decisions are subjective decisions, based on people's creative inputs, based on viewpoint, and two people can look at a building or an area and they come to two completely different decisions about how it should be treated. Which is why government at the very least should provide hearings for these things. I see no harm that comes to having that packed room of people saying different things and having different conclusions and presenting different evidence. I fully believe that the Bloomberg administration has certain contempt for just that discussion; they think that that's untidy and they don't want to do that. I am not going to commit to you now in terms of a specific reform, but one thing I will say to you is that I fundamentally believe that better outcomes come from people mixing it up on these issues.
When I'm mayor of the City of New York, I'll come to this exact spot, and I'll talk to you about how we are doing in the administration. We'll talk a little about what your views are, we'll do this and this isn't just in the confines of communities like this that get animated around the global issue of landmarking. You have to realize that preservation of our communities has become a rallying cry in communities all throughout the city right now.
This has become a fundamental issue in the campaign that I think the mayor is ignoring. How is he dealing with these fires? By putting them out one by one based on, what I would say, is a political map. I mean if you really look at it that's what it looks like he's doing. What my administration would be committed to is at least having a broader discussion, having hearings, allowing the media to view them, allowing experts to take a look at them, allowing experts around the city, allowing amateurs around the city to express their views. I do not feel offended that having open hearings is going to muck up the works.
Will I say to you that I want 20 council members or 3 community boards being able to nominate something? No, I won't say that specifically now, but I am open to the idea of having a process that at least gets hearings to happen on a more regular basis. To not even having a hearing on 2 Columbus Circle is mind-boggling.
Q: What would you do about funding and the level of staffing at the Landmarks Preservation Commission?
Weiner: Well one thing is for sure, we have the Buildings Department with hundreds and hundreds of employees and they can't seem to get anything right. In Manhattan Beach, you know we had this long period of time where Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay had laid fallow for a bunch of reasons, the economy went south, and the Lundy estate was fighting over different properties. I remember when I was in the City Council we were trying to revive the waterfront and from all around the world literally people were saying why don't you just reopen Lundy's. And I remember when we were in discussions about how to get someone to come in, we had a lot of property speculators who came in and said we'll come in but if the building is going to be landmarked we're not going to touch it, and we want no part of it. But as it turned out in retrospect, the fact that Lundy's was preserved and the Spanish colonial architecture and the stain glass and everything, turned out to be the very thing that inspired more people to invest in Emmons Avenue. That inspired more people to want to come visit, that inspired people when they came back to New York to go back to their childhood experiences in Lundy's, which by the way isn't as good as it was.
It also wouldn't hurt to have the mayor every once in a while not celebrating some glitzy glass stadium, but celebrating some corner of the city that reflects the true community. For example, you know I drive by the far West Side and I see that giant glass thing they are building there and I'm sure someone thinks it's very attractive, and Sean Penn will be very happy living there I'm sure, but you know the real Greenwich Village is not that. The real Greenwich Village is a completely different thing.
And part of what I think we need to do from the highest levels of government is start to talk about preserving the city, not just as a political imperative to assuage Staten Island, not just as something we do in the context of the budget, but to start talking about these hearings and discussions and have the mayor, say 'This is the 215th anniversary of this building, and here is a little about the history of this and come visit New York and take a look at this.'
I think it would go a long way to kind of restore where we are as a city that thinks about these things. And it also confirms for me one other thing that I don't point out much about Mike Bloomberg, but I believe it makes a difference whether you're from New York.
I don't think he understands that being in New York means celebrating the communities, preserving the communities, seeing the old New York as a gateway to the new New York, and kind of seeing the connection. You know when I look at the, we have one picture of my great grandfather Wolf Weiner (you thought Anthony Weiner was a funny name) standing in front of this fur shop where he was a cutter. He was the first generation that was here, my great grandfather, and while it's fascinating looking at my great grandfather and my great grandmother, Anna, in that picture, what's also fascinating is to see the building of the Lower East Side and the tenements in the background.
God willing, someday I'm going to be able to bring my grandkids to that street, hold the picture, look at the building and say this is the connection that New York has and what makes it great. Anthony Weiner is going to remember that when he is mayor. And it's more than just a government. It's more than just a budget. It's more than just a hearing. It's a sense deep in us that this is an important of part of New York going forward. And that is something I'm not going to forget.
Q: The annual budget for the New York City Landmarks Commission is $3 million. When he was here as a candidate, Michael Bloomberg said that that was ridiculous, that it was ridiculous that there was only one inspector in the landmarks commission for all of the two and a half percent of the city's real estate that is landmarked. And he committed himself to do something about it.
Weiner: Look, I am committed to an increase in the budget. I'm not going to say significant, I'm not going to say a lot, I'm not going to say a doubling, but I am committed to the idea of reviewing the suggestion that my former constituent made about having a certain stop gap requirement that inspections happen of certain types of buildings, which I believe that if I drop you a letter and say I support that will require an increase in the budget of the agency, just to be able to fulfill that.
Q: When my committee approached you for a letter on 2 Columbus Circle to the Landmarks Preservation Committee, you wrote a beautiful letter.
Weiner: In fairness it wasn't actually an 'approach.' it was more like a bludgeoning.
Q: Have you given any thought to Governors Island?
Weiner: We put together a little committee. Perhaps we can ask a member of your group to be on the committee. We're giving some thought to it now, we wanted to give a speech on it and come up with a proposal two months ago, and like everything else with Governors Island the more we peel the onion, the more complex the discussion got.
One thing I say is this, it's another example, and I can think of three or four right of the top of my head, that if we devoted a fraction of the thought, of the energy, of the money, of the resources, to Governors Island, to developing the area around DUMBO, the waterfront in Brooklyn, that we did to the Olympics, we would be so much better off.
The answer is I've given the some thought to it, but I'm reluctant now kind of in the middle of the process to say what I would propose. I'm open to ideas.
Not only have there been a lot of thoughtful studies on Governors Island, but there's a memorandum of understanding that was signed by all the principle parties, including the city. Right now Daniel Doctoroff seems to be intent on reopening that, which does not give us much comfort.
Other Candidates Speeches
' Fernando Ferrer: The Irreplaceable Treasures of the Bronx
' C. Virginia Fields:Looking Beyond the Big Ticket Items
' Gifford Miller: Updating the Landmarks Law
The four Democratic candidates for mayor discussed issues of historic preservation at a series of forums sponsored by coalition of groups, including Landmark West, the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy. The following is an edited transcript of the candidate's opening remarks and a sample of some of the questions from the audience.
Many of you, know my mother, who designed the Conservatory Garden, Bryant Park, Wagner Park, Madison Square Park, Herald and Union Park, New York Botanical Gardens, and gardens in Rockaway, Red Hook, and Staten Island. So she's done a park in every borough which she completed before I decided to run. And my father served on the community board in East Harlem for the last 20 years. He served in the Johnson and Kennedy administrations. So I was raised as a boy with a deep love for New York City, and also a belief in the importance of public service.
After graduating from college, I went to work for Congresswoman Caroline Maloney because I wanted to be able to serve my city, as well, in the tradition that my parents had brought me up in.
Over the last 10 years that I've been in the New York City Council, I've loved what I've had the chance to do, to help change the course of our city's future, to contribute something to the greatest city in the world. In particular, over the past four years as speaker of the council, I've had an even greater privilege, which is to fall in love with all of New York. I grew up in Manhattan. It was concerned an enormous liability when I ran for speaker, but I like to say nobody's perfect. This is an extraordinary city, filled with unbelievably diverse and exciting different neighborhoods all over New York. And also filled with people that love New York and want to spend and give their time similarly to its future to preserve and to strengthen this greatest city in the world.
I'm running for mayor because I believe we need new leadership, new leadership for the city that has a sense of that whole city, of the challenges that we face, and of the opportunities that are presented, and of a vision of what we can accomplish that is better and great.
I think that landmarks and historic preservation is an example of the failure of leadership that we've had on the part of this mayor.
It's not just that he hasn't done a good job of administering our school system, or getting our fair share from Washington or Albany, or really figuring out how to deal with the structural problems. It's that he doesn't understand, to my mind, the opportunities that are presented and the responsibilities that are incumbent upon a mayor to provide real moral and political leadership on issues of tremendous concern to New Yorkers. On too many issues, what we get from this mayor are excuses about how things can't be done, rather than examining innovative ways in which things can be done.
And again, it's not just on schools, where we hear sort of a pat on the back for the fact that we've finally reached the point where half of our kids are failing in our schools, or on the fact that each year he rolls over for Washington and Albany and doesn't go out and do something about the fact that we're sending $24 billion more to Washington and Albany, or the notion that he has an economic development vision which seems to be centered solely on getting the Olympics or our goose is cooked.
It's on issues like landmarks where over and over again, rather than figuring out ways in order to accomplish something, what we get are excuses about how difficult it will be to accomplish something, and, as a result, inaction.
So, what we've seen over the last three and a half years is a real failure to exercise the sort of moral and political leadership to preserve communities that are under attack all over the city and the failure to expand and open up the landmark process to real public review and involvement and participation. That is another hallmark of this administration: an extremely closed process. This mayor doesn't believe in listening to other people, and doesn't believe that our problems can be solved by anyone outside of his own small cadre of administration.
As a result, what we've seen on issue after issue, and I think landmarks and historic preservation is a very good example of these kinds of issues, is a lack of imagination, a lack of political and moral leadership, and a closed process, which, in the end, leaves us more mystified at the end than we were in the beginning. I'm running for mayor because I want to change that, and I think if you look at my leadership of the City Council over the last three and a half years, you'll see I have a very different model of leadership and a different proven record of accomplishment.
The City Council, for the first time, has held two public hearings on the processes of the landmarks commission, examining what the challenges are and trying to get people involved and recognize that openness and transparency are not a problem. They are the solution. We don't have to, at the end, agree on every point and every decision that is made, but we ought to, in a democracy and in a proper administration, be able to agree that there's a fair shake being given and that the process has been open and transparent and accountable.
That is the work that the City Council has been moving towards, and I think that there are very common sense things that can be done in order to improve that.
There ought to be adequate time given for the public to review applications for certificates and appropriates, including revisions to those applications.
There ought to be just a hearing room that has a sound system that you can hear what's going on. There decisions about whether or not to hold hearings on items ought to be conducted in the open with clear and frank reasons given to why some things are given a hearing and why other things are not given a hearing.
We certainly need to expand the budget for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, because it is woefully underfunded. In the end, it doesn't serve anybody well. There has to be enough staff to be able to respond swiftly to decisions and to matters that are timely and require a timely decision. There has to be enough money to be able to complete its mission. Otherwise, we shouldn't pretend that it's there to accomplish what it says it's there to accomplish.
So we have work to do there, but that is certainly something that I support as speaker, and would support as mayor.
More broadly, I am proud of the work that the council has done, not just with regard to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (which had landmark status rejected by the council because it wanted to build apartment buildings on its grounds), but also with regard to the demolition-by-neglect legislation, which the council passed over the objections of an awful lot of people in the city.
Powerful interests in this city came together to object to this legislation, but, in the end, it was the right thing to do. It is wrong to allow owners of landmarked properties to allow their properties to become demolished by their neglect, and then to say, well now that it's destroyed you don't have to bother saving it. It doesn't make any sense.
And this legislation that we passed in the council, for the first time, allows the city to do something about that. You know, we had cases in which owners would actually open up their roofs so that the building, the structure would become completely destroyed and then say, 'I can't save this structure because it's destroyed, and so I have to tear it down.'
There was no legal method for handling that. We, as a result of my leadership and my colleagues in the council, for the first time now have the ability to attack that problem. The New York City Council cares deeply about this matter, that even when it's not easy, and we're going to take steps in order to try to protect our city.
I love this city, you love this city, and I'm running for mayor because I don't believe in listening to all of the voices that tell me what I can't do. You know, in government there's always people that will tell you that you can't do something that's difficult to do.
They tell you 'Look, you're never going to fix the schools. You're never going to get our fair share. You'll never be able to create affordable housing. You'll never be able to create jobs for every community.'
That's why I'm running for mayor. We need a mayor that doesn't listen to those voices. That looks at what can be done, rather than what can't be done. That thinks about the possibilities for what kind of city we can be and should be, rather than just keeps going down the same road of where we are. And we do face real challenges. I know we're going to have lots of questions about them. I look forward to working with you in this battle as well, because this is a battle that is worth fighting, that is worth waging, and, most importantly, worth winning. I thank you all for you spirit and optimism and faith in the future of our city.
'Our landmarks law was a model when it was passed. But that was 40 years ago. Even models must be updated.' |
Q: When [now State Senator] John Sabini was chairman of landmarks subcommittee, the City Council held a hearing on how the city is treating its historic public schools. At that time they asked the city to complete a survey of older building to see which ones would be eligible for listing on the national register. So my question is, as mayor would you insist that that survey be completed and would you treat historic public schools with the care and respect that they deserve as building that can serve out children today?
Miller: Yes, and let me just explain it briefly. The city does a pretty good job of certain landmarks, of restoring them, ones that are high profile, that for whatever reason somebody in city government has adopted it as a particular pet cause. The city does not do a good job in dealing with the comprehensive aspect of this problem.
We own a lot of land and a lot of property and a lot of historic structures. Nobody in this room is exactly sure of how comprehensive a list that is. There ought to be a full review of this. Then once we have that full review, there ought to be a report on a regular basis to the council, to the Landmark Preservation Commission, and to the public in general about where we are in terms of the preservation of these structures. If we are going to ask private landlords and property owners to take care of their structures we have to lead by example. There is a moral issue here and this is not a mayor that believes in moral leadership. In the end when you think about it, what are the moral issues that the mayor has provided real leadership on? I guess smoking and the Olympics. And that's about it. There is an opportunity for the city to provide moral, as well as actual leadership in showing that we are going to be a property owner who will respect our own historic structures and do it in a comprehensive and open and transparent way, its not happening. As mayor I will make sure that it does.
Q: We are presently experiencing the cost of the lack of leadership at the helm of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Would you commit to appoint a chair to the Landmark Preservation Commission who has a proven track record and knowledge base in the subject that they are asked to control for the city of New York?
Miller: What I would commit to do is work with the people in this room to identify candidates for that position. Again, I have a different style of leadership than this mayor. I think in the end it's a more effective style of leadership. I like to engage, rather than disengage. I believe in testing the power of my ideas against others. I believe in listening. I don't think that makes me a less effective leader. I think it makes me a more effective leader. And if you look at my record as speaker of the City Council that's the way that its worked. I have led a council that has had more independence. We have members that call press conferences about just about any subject at the drop of a dime. And I am not somebody who believes in closing that off. I believe in allowing that to flourish because I think in the end you accomplish more that way.
So the answer to your question is, is that I will certainly engage in an open and constructive dialogue with the people in this room about how and who to appoint to that position. I'll make my judgment at the end about who I think would be best.
Q: Mayor Bloomberg, standing at this platform before the same crowd in 2001, made a similar statement to the one you just made. We would hope and expect that if you are elected we would have a better follow through than we had in the prior exercise with the same question and really the same answer.
Miller: How many of you have seen this cult movie right now called Napoleon Dynamite? A young man runs for president of the high school. The candidates are supposed to give speech about what they'll do when they are elected president of the student body. And he asks his friend what he should say because he doesn't know what to say, and the friend says, 'Tell them that you will make all of their wildest dreams come true.' So we're at the point of the campaign right now where candidates come before groups like this one and tell you that we are going to make all of your wildest dreams come true.
And that's what happened four years ago when Mike Bloomberg came here, he told you what you wanted to hear. The challenge is to ask yourself - who is mostly likely to go out and actually live up to the pledges and the commitment that they have made? And I just suggest to you that I am the candidate that is most likely, because if you look at my character, if you look at my style of leadership, and you look at my proven record.
I mean look when the real estate and religious communities and other communities who are powerful in this city, all got together and said that they didn't like the demolition by neglect legislation, there was a choice that had to get made by somebody in a real position with real power. Which way are you going to go? And a lot of people would have said you know what it's stirring up to much of a hornets nest. And I proved that when push came to shove, we were going to go forward anyway when I thought it was the right thing to do.
So I am not going to commit to you specifically. But I would be very surprised if I were to choose someone to the Landmarks Preservation Commission who didn't have landmarks experience. I can't see a reason why I would choose somebody to run a landmarks commission who doesn't have landmarking experience.
Q: 2 Columbus Circle has yet to receive a public hearing by this administration. Will you invite us down to City Hall to hold a 'people's landmark hearing,' since the Landmarks Preservation Commission under this mayor refuses to use the landmarks law to provide a public hearing for this worthy building?
Miller: I will seriously consider that request. My only concern is that I don't want to misplace where the pressure should be. If it's a 'people's hearing' it's not a real hearing. A real hearing is what ought to happen. I agree with you. Given the extraordinary amount of discussion on this subject and the amount of concern about it, it is a case and point about the conduct and leadership of the Landmarks Preservation commission. People have different opinions about 2 Columbus Circle. But it certainly is a serious issue. The landmarks commission can say yes or no, but at least they should have to say why. What are the criteria by which a hearing is granted. This building is by a well-known architect. It is in a well known and important public space. If this isn't a building that deserves a hearing, then I don't know what it is.
Q: Can you explain your vote on 2 Columbus Circle at the borough board meeting supporting the transfer of the property to the museum, when everyone know they wanted to destroy the facade?
Miller: I think a museum use for that building is a good idea. There isn't anything else on the table. It has the support of the local council member. But I don't think that it negates the need for landmark consideration. The landmarks commission hasn't done its job. We have to live within that reality.
Q: In Staten Island and Queens one of the biggest issues is overdevelopment and tearing down existing buildings to build new ones. The mayor has a solution, which we call 'landmarking by ambush.' He comes out to a public meeting where a developer has bought a building and plans to tear it down and the mayor pledges to have it landmarked. We have a proposal before the City Council (Intro 317) on delaying demolitions so there can be an orderly process and having a hearing for each building. Can you help us move that bill along? And what is your platform on overdevelopment and teardowns?
Miller: With regard to that bill, we are working very hard to see how we can move it forward. It's a good concept. We need to look at what the resources are and it's important for people to be able to build in this city. You are right, there is no orderly way to deal with these issues. The way it works now is that if you have community group that gets whipped up enough about a particular aspect in an area where the mayor feels it's a good political issue, he will call a town meeting, arrive, and announce that all is well again.
More broadly, this is an area when we get a piece meal approach from the mayor. That is because of a lack of resources at the City Planning Commission. The City Council has worked hard to expand the planning commission's budget. And there is a lack of political will. We need a comprehensive citywide review. Land values have distorted our process. The zoning process was fine for a long time because it did not make sense 10 years ago to tear down existing building and then build to the property lines. But now, it makes sense. People are paying so much for housing and property in this city. The response from this administration has been too slow. We need to make the zoning match what we want to accomplish.
Q: You've talked about your record and the need for a comprehensive plan. But beyond these symbolic measures, can you initiative legislation to reform the Landmarks Preservation Commission? Other cities allow citizens to gather signatures and have access to the process.
Miller: Our landmarks law was a model when it was passed. But that was 40 years ago. Models need to be updated. There are issues that need to be addressed and I am open to hearing suggestions on how that could be done.
Q: Is it time for someone to do something about the school construction authority? Has it outlived its usefulness? Who is in charge in this city when it comes to our historic schools?
Miller: I don't think its about the school construction authority, it's about the person in charge ' the mayor. The best thing the mayor has accomplished in 3 1/2 years is getting control of the schools. I supported it. If the mayor isn't doing enough about historic schools, we have to hold him accountable.
Q: What would you do with Governors Island?
Miller: I don't have a plan for Governors Island. I have a lot of concern about the administration's failure to come forward with a thoughtful proposal that re-imagines the island and builds on this extraordinary asset. The idea of having CUNY use it was good, but nothing has happened since. More broadly there has to be a process that helps us move forward and make the best choices for a city's future.
Q: On 69th Street and Hudson River, the parks department will be restoring the 1911 New York Central Railroad transfer bridge into a public pier and ferry and water taxi landing. The parks department needs another $1 million. Will you support it?
Miller: I will talk to the council members about it and I hope that I will be able to support it.
Q: Do you have any plans to give resources to the community boards or community organizations in dealing with land use issues?
Miller: I believe in the work of community boards. Some elected officials try to control or compete with community boards, I don't believe in that. Community boards make my life easier as an elected official because I don't have to conduct my own public forum that I have to administer. I believe in community based planning and as speaker and have helped fund them. I would like to see them get more funding. The notion of community board as pure constituent provider is changing. Community boards ought to be more planning oriented.
Other Candidates Speeches
' Fernando Ferrer: The Irreplaceable Treasures of the Bronx
' C. Virginia Fields:Looking Beyond the Big Ticket Items
' Anthony Weiner: Old New York as a Gateway to the new New York
The four Democratic candidates for mayor discussed issues of historic preservation at a series of forums sponsored by coalition of groups, including Landmark West, the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society, and the New York Landmarks Conservancy. The following is an edited transcript of the candidate's opening remarks and a sample of some of the questions from the audience.
Other Candidates Speeches |
As a strong supporter and proponent of historic preservation, I look forward to the dialogue and an opportunity to work with you even more on issues that remain open throughout this borough and indeed this city. I am a candidate for mayor running on the basis of my experience, my accomplishments, and my vision for this city.
As most of you know I am in my 16th year as an elected official in city government, having served eight years as a member of the New York City Council, and now in my eighth year as president of the borough of Manhattan. In addition, I served for 10 years as a member of a local community board, and two years as chair of that community board. The work that I have done informs my vision for the city of New York. And my vision for the city of New York is very different from the direction in which I see the city moving.
I want a city that is open, open in terms of opportunities for more, rather than a few. Where we work on the priorities that affect all of our daily lives, affordable housing, education, jobs, and so much more. We are a great city, but I think that we have limited our vision to the big tickets items whether it's stadiums on the West Side of Manhattan, which I have always been opposed to, or now focusing on stadiums throughout other areas.
We have many challenges before us. How are we going to prepare the next generation so they are on a career path for jobs? How are we going to make it possible for people to live in New York City with the high cost of housing and now with one out of five New Yorkers having to pay more than 50 percent or more for their housing costs? How are we going to maintain communities with character that it makes it possible through preservation initiatives?
I am pleased to have been a part of lobbying, advocating, and facilitating many of the historic districts such as Townsend Heights, Sugar Hill, NOHO, Murray Hill Historic District, Madison Square North, the African Burial Grounds, and Commons Historic District, just to name a few, as well as individual landmarks that include private buildings and public buildings such as schools, libraries, police precincts, firehouses, churches, and synagogues. And at the City Council, I was very pleased to have been a part and a leader in passing the Landmark Protection bill. This gave the landmarks commission the power to seek fines for violations of its regulations.
Like many of you, I came to New York because of the opportunities related to jobs, but I also wanted to be in a place that is historic in terms of buildings, as well as many other issues and contributions that have been advanced and made right here in New York City. So I realize that safeguarding our city's historic and cultural heritage is important in helping to stabilize communities and I'm very pleased to have been a leader in fighting for so much of that.
I agree that we must do more and government must be a leader in making it happen. With respect to commitment to tax incentives to building owners for restoration work on historic properties, not only do I fully support the state and the federal proposed legislation but would actively lobby in Washington and Albany and work with our congressional and legislative leaders in Albany in an effort to get these tax incentive bills passed.
I also would endeavor to implement a municipal tax incentive program to complement the programs at the state and the federal levels. But further, I would consider a tax credit or subsidy based on need in order to rehabilitate and adapt vacant historic structures. There are vacant historic structures that are left to deteriorate because there are no funds. There are no tax incentive programs that would encourage the refurbishing of vacant historic buildings that may get lost due to total neglect. It would also revitalize public schools where the board of education might not be able to modernize the building or perhaps renovate the building because of costs. So that would be an additional incentive to get these vacant buildings also renovated and upgraded.
With respect to preservation of public buildings, especially historic school buildings, yes, we must do more because indeed they are anchors in city neighborhoods and unfortunately we have lost too many of those building for residential development, homeless shelters, social services programs.
As mayor, I would establish what I call the School Preservation Conservancy, which would be comprised of volunteers, but assigned staff would assist it. This body would be asked to identify schools buildings that need to be considered for historic preservation. We have to put them in a protective program first while decisions are being made. We can do that the very first year of my administration and therefore prevent further demolition or takeover of these buildings while the Landmarks Preservation Commission engages in terms of its review, deciding whether or not based on criteria these buildings are eligible for landmark destinations or the National Register.
Also in my first year, I would create an inventory of all the other historic buildings that we believe should also be evaluated because we're losing the buildings by not protecting them or identifying them and not acting quickly to protect them.
With respect to funding an independent Landmarks Preservation Commission, I agree that the commission needs more money and the way that we do that is to allocate the necessary funds. It has pained me to see the reduction of dollars for the Landmarks Preservation Commission and a reduction in staff. This reduces the ability of that commission to do enforcement, to do follow up, to schedule the hearings, and move actively on a timely basis with respect to those hearings.
I would look to appoint someone to head up the commission who has relevant experience in the field of preservation, encourage input from communities, and create much more transparency so that all of us know what is happening within the commission. We will hold hearings on issues whether I think they are relevant, whether the commissioners think they're relevant or not.
I also think that we need to strengthen our outreach and educational programs in the communities talking about landmarks. I certainly experienced this with a lot of churches in Harlem that were proposed to be landmarked. So I think it is important that we go back into the communities and do more of that. We also must increase staff in order to enforce the Landmark Protection bill. I recall in 1990 when I entered the council, that not only was the presence of the activists and the leaders in the landmark preservation community felt, but you played a very significant role in helping to shape policy, moving issues along, and enabling City Council as well as the mayor's office to get so much more done.
And lastly with respect to zoning reform that reinforces and complements historic neighborhoods, this of course should be done as was done in Tribeca.
There is much more that a mayor can do. I am fully committed to restoring the power, the presence, the value, and strengthening the work of the Landmark Preservation Commission but including the larger preservation communities because I know that is how we will be able to get this done. With that I prepare to answer any questions or respond to issues one might have.
'We cannot make the landmark law work if we don't have the right leadership at the agency and the funding and the staffing to enforce it.' |
Q: The borough president's office appoints the borough historian and I have been privileged to work with your historian's office. How do we integrate preservation and development?
Fields: As a matter of fact, based on the work of our historian, we will be releasing this week a brochure on all of the historic sites in Manhattan that relates to the African American communities: the churches, the museums, all of those have been identified and they have been put in a booklet.
As we look for ways at integrating preservation with overall land use, we have given thought to how we would incorporate that within the City Planning Commission. We have to consciously plan for preservation and make it a part of the review process by simply assigning staff to do it.
Q: Can you explain your position on two issues? First, your vote at the borough board to transfer 2 Columbus Circle to the museum automatically meant the fa'ade would be destroyed because the museum has already said that they were planning to do this. Second, the landmark and development issues surrounding the Cathedral Church of St. John Divine.
Fields: With respect to 2 Columbus Circle, this was a project that had gone through public review for over a year and a half. This was the project that had been approved at the local community board level, it had been approved in terms of the plans for the museum and the vote that was taken had to do with the sale. I believe it was the right decision to make at that time.
On St. John the Divine, our position on that was that the entire land, the entire area should have been landmarked, but that the church should have an opportunity to build on it because it was also tied into their ability to address their financial needs. But by having the entire area landmarked, that also would require input and oversight by Landmark Preservation Commission in terms of what would get built on that site and we believe that that provided for the protection and in terms of making sure that. If a building was ever built there, it would be in context with the character of the area and there will be some controls.
Q: I wanted to ask about your vision for the development of the West Side midtown area. Now with the stadium seemingly out of the picture, I wonder about your thoughts on public access to the waterfront and generally development of the West Side.
Fields: I was, and continue to be, opposed to a stadium on the West Side. I think it was the wrong location, it never made sense, and it still certainly does not make sense. About four and a half years ago, my office commissioned a study for the West Side of Manhattan. It was a study conducted by a firm that reached out very broadly to talk with people throughout the community at every level: community boards, civic organizations, community organizations, business leaders, entrepreneurs, real state, all of the stakeholders.
What came out of that study is that we should expand the Javits convention center. It called for more of a north expansion with hotels at the northern part at 42nd Street. It called for hotels, small retail space, open spaces, but more affordable housing. Affordable housing at low-, medium-, and market-rate level. The site is large enough for all of that.
So specifically, our plan calls for housing on that site, and I think it was important at that time and I think that is still just as viable and important now that the stadium has seemingly been removed with respect to the West Side. So I take exception when it is stated that no one has looked at the West Side and no planning has been discussed. The problem was that this mayor came in with the view that he wanted the stadium on the West Side and nothing else got through in terms of those discussions.
Open space and access to the waterfront is extremely important. And that's an area where we can also look to preservation and opportunities to integrate the land use approach in preservation.
Q: One of the most important things the mayor will do for historical preservation is appoint a landmarks commission chair. Four years ago, candidate Bloomberg promised to appoint a landmarks chair who had a proven record in historic preservation and a knowledge base in historic preservation. He did not deliver on that promise. Will you commit here and now that the landmarks chair that you appoint if elected mayor will be someone with a proven record in historic preservation and a demonstrated commitment to enforcing the landmarks law?
Fields: I commit. I do think that it is important. I would fully commit to that because, as I said, we have to give this commission value again and we begin to do that with the person that heads it up. Whether it is integrating preservation more fully into the overall land use approach, whether it is focusing on how we protect the schools that are doing inventories and fast-tracking the scheduling of hearings so that decisions can be made in a timely manor so that we don't continue to lose so many of those buildings.
We cannot make this work if we don't have the right leadership at the agency and the funding and the staffing to enforce the laws, to give the support to those who are out there trying to really work in that system. We can do it. But it requires again, leadership, commitment, funding, working together and again a commitment and I'm there.
Q: Can we look at some of the regulations that may really go against the spirit of historic preservation?
Fields: I think it is important to periodically review regulations. So, yes. Absolutely. And I think again that a commissioner who has the right kind of experience, the right kind of a focus, can take on these kinds of issues and make things happen. And that's the difference here. It's not just managing an agency to make sure that all the workers come in on time, but so it is looking at all areas more comprehensively that effects the work and regulations.
Q: Have you given any thought to Governors Island and what can be done to make it come alive again?
Fields: Not only have I given thought to it, but I also worked on a task force about four and a half years ago and we came up with what I believe it is still a viable plan. It calls for a conference center, recreational facilities, and educational facilities. Now, having said that, I know that this mayor has said that he will be issuing a request for a proposal and I am resubmitting my plan of those ideas. It can become a destination port, especially for many conferences, small conferences, educational groups and forums.
Q: You know about P.S. 109, a historic school that sits on East 99th street. It was recently closed. Why in this day with a shortage of classroom space is this happening?
Fields: I have been part of trying to get that school reopened, keeping it as a historic site and the battle has been with the School Construction Authority and the administration, which believe that it must be torn down. We don't want it to be torn down. We are fighting to keep it there and so all of this time it has not been used as a school. With respect to whether or not the School Construction Authority should have control over historic sites, that's why I talked earlier about the idea for a school preservation conservancy so that we can get our arms around these schools and put them into a protective class and fight to get the funding - public funding as well as private funding. So I think by taking a different approach, we can get something, more efficiently and more effectively.
Other Candidates Speeches
' Fernando Ferrer: The Irreplaceable Treasures of the Bronx
' Gifford Miller: Updating the Landmarks Law
' Anthony Weiner: Old New York as a Gateway to the new New York
It is easy to express outrage against the system by which candidates in New York gather signatures from the public on "nominating petitions" in order to get on the ballot – and then are kicked off the ballot when their opponents challenge those petitions on legal technicalities.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer expressed outrage in 2001, when his office issued a report (in pdf format) that concluded “New York State has the most confusing, stringent and needless petition requirements for ballot access.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed outrage in 2004. “It’s become a whole cottage industry...you don’t have to beat the other guy based on positions or your ability to serve, all you gotta do is beat him because you got a better lawyer who can get him thrown off the ballot,” Bloomberg said. "I think it's time to end this 'gotcha' kind of technique, where lawyers comb petitions to find some technical violation."
Why the system persists might be explained by the news from Bloomberg’s campaign, shortly after the deadline for filing the petitions this month, that Michael Bloomberg would be challenging the signatures in the nominating petitions of Republican rival Thomas Ognibene, reportedly “hoping to keep Ognibene off the ballot and avoid a GOP primary.” Yes, the same Michael Bloomberg, just eight months later.
"In New York, politics is a blood sport," said election lawyer Henry Berger. (See “Ballot Bumping In New York”)
Running for virtually any political office in the country requires demonstrating some form of citizen support in order to protect the ballot from being flooded with frivolous candidacies. In New York, this support is established by gathering signatures from registered voters in the district in which the candidate is running.
The New York election laws that require candidates to collect signatures dates back to the late 19th century, when they were first implemented in an attempt to break the control political parties had over the nomination process. Before their implementation, the only way candidates could get on the ballot was by receiving the support of the party machine.
The new laws were meant to allow a way for insurgent candidates to run for office.
Today the law requires candidates running for citywide office to collect 7,500 signatures within a span of 37 days. Borough-wide candidates need to collect 4,000 and City Council candidates need 900.
Rather than ensuring that those without the support of the machine can still seek office, these laws wind up restricting the options that voters have when they go to the ballot box on Election Day.
New York is one of only 13 states to set a petition requirement as the sole means of getting on the ballot; most states allow candidates to pay a filing fee in lieu of accumulating signatures. New York also allows the shortest period of time in which to gather those signatures, a mere 37 days, compared to the more than a year allowed in Michigan, and the unlimited time period in six other states, including New Jersey.
And the number of signatures required to get on a ballot in New York is way out of line with other states: In California, to get on the ballot even for governor requires only 65 signatures.
What the larger signature requirement often shows is not how much actual citizen support candidates have, but how much money they have to pay people to gather the signatures.
In search of larger and larger total signature numbers, many candidates find themselves eventually employing paid petitioners to hawk their candidacy. Of the major mayoral candidates, only Anthony Weiner employed an entirely volunteer, grassroots effort. He cites the superiority of this approach, claiming that paid petitioners are “mercenaries, whereas the people who collect our petitions are very animated about our campaign.”
Those with the backing of the local party organizations and labor unions typically have a huge advantage in the process. Those without such endorsements need to build their own field operation to gather the signatures, or roll up their sleeves and collect them themselves.
For incumbents and established politicos, reaching the threshold is often not a problem. The difference between the 40,000 signatures that Anthony Weiner gathered and the 158,000 that Gifford Miller’s operation gathered is more or less meaningless to the process.
However, for insurgent candidates in municipal races these petitions are deadly serious; the slightest errors in their compilation could lead to the would-be officeholder being stricken from the ballot.
“Its absurd to me,” exclaimed Gur Tsabar, a candidate running for City Council in the second district, which includes the Lower East Side, during a press conference he called to blast the ballot-bumping there. “Political clubs are deciding who will appear on the ballot, not the residents of the district.”
By law, any candidate or any voter from the district or political jurisdiction may challenge a candidate’s petition signatures, claiming that, for one reason or another, the signatures are not valid. Incumbent office holders and candidates with party backing have seized on this process to mount challenges as a way to minimize and marginalize competition. With little oversight or compelling reason not to mount a challenge, well-financed and/or party-backed candidates throw up this obstacle as a matter of habit. They know that if a challenge is mounted their opponent must waste precious dollars and time defending themselves to the Board of Elections, and potentially in court; time and money better spent campaigning for office.
As is the case in the second council district, local party organizations often use this process to flex their political muscle, challenging candidates who oppose them. Six of the 11 candidates running for the open city council seat vacated by the term-limited Margarita Lopez are being challenged by the ironically-named Coalition for a District Alternative (CoDA), a political club that actively supports both Margarita Lopez and Lopez protégé Rosie Mendez, who is running to be her successor.
If the Board of Elections confirms that the defendants’ signatures are not valid, for reasons as slight as the omission of a zip code or a forgotten date at the top of the sheet, the entire page of signatures is removed from the candidate’s count. (This is actually an improvement from the even more stringent requirements of the 1980s, which found signatures invalid if “street” or “avenue” were abbreviated.) If the final count falls below the minimum threshold, the candidate’s candidacy is over before it begins.
During the last municipal election, dozens of city council candidates were kicked off the ballot following petition challenges. Expect more of the same this year.
Doug Israel is the public policy director of Citizens Union Foundation, where Matthew Gertz is an intern.
The Campaign Tangle Series from 2001
• The Campaign Tangle Begins, by Bob Liff
• Campaign Tangle 2: Timeline For The Legal Tango By Henry Berger and Kimberly Strobl
• Campaign Tangle III: A City Of Challenges
• Campaign Tangle IV: The Rejected
• Campaign Tangle 5: Chaos and Confusion
• Campaign Tangle 6: Welcome To Brooklyn
• Campaign Tangle 7: The Disillusioned Candidates
• Ballot-Bumping in New York (an Issue of the Week in August, 2003)
• A Brief History of Election Law in New York
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