New York City Council Stated Meeting Report
Every two weeks the New York City Council meets for its Stated Meeting to introduce and pass legislation. As a regular feature, Searchlight covers these meetings and posts a summary of the bills passed.
STATED MEETING - November 10, 2004
Quote of the Day:
"Last year, when the mayor announced that he wanted to go into the twelve most dangerous schools and help turn those schools around... when the statistics came out months later... it turned out that only one of those twelve was actually among the most dangerous." - City Council Speaker Gifford Miller commenting on the need to better track school crime and violence.
Meeting Summary:
On November 10, the New York City Council passed a package of legislation that it says will improve safety in New York City schools. In recent months, there have been conflicting reports about the severity of school crime.
In the fall of 2003, the United Federation of Teachers reported that the number of criminal incidents against teachers and principals had risen 39 percent and that more than 1,800 students had received transfers to different schools because of concerns over safety. However, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said a few months later that "there is no indication that there has been any significant increase in incidents."
To try to address the issue, the council passed a bill (Intro 266-A) that requires the Department of Education to make more information about school crimes available to the public. The legislation requires a specific listing of each serious, minor, and criminal instance and requires the city make the data available online, at individual schools, and in the annual reports on each school.
"I have a daughter in the fifth grade and when I looked for middle schools, I could not find crime statistics on the Web," said Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr. who drafted the bill. "I could find what they had for lunch, but not crime statistics."
The second bill in the package (Intro 322-A) requires the city to give the council a quarterly report on the number of school safety agents assigned to each school.
The third bill (Intro 150-A) requires that by the end of 2006, every school in the city specify if they have security cameras installed, and if not, to explain why they believe they are not needed. Of the 1,300 schools in New York City, only 155 currently have security cameras. The council also allocated $120 million in the 5-year capital budget for new security cameras, which cost approximately $75,000 per school to install.
Some council members argued that money should be spent on upgrading schools, creating smaller classes, and funding other programs rather than buying security cameras.
"Don't put a police officer next to each child," said Councilmember Charles Barron. "Put a computer and textbook next to each child."
The council passed all three bills. (Councilmember Dennis Gallagher voted against the school safety agent reports and Councilmember Charles Barron voted against the security cameras.)
The City Council also gave its approval to a new Marriott Hotel on 125th Street and Park Avenue in Harlem, the first hotel to be built in the area since 1966.
The building - known as Harlem Park - will feature two floors of retail space, five floors of commercial space, 11 floors of residential space, and 12 floors of hotel rooms. The initial plan called for the tower to be 550 feet tall, but after negotiations with the local community board and council members it was reduced by about 100 feet. Proponents say the project will create about 900 jobs.
Harlem Councilmember Bill Perkins opposes the project, arguing that it will dwarf every other building in Harlem and that the residential apartments will sell for $600 per square foot and will not be affordable to locals.
"If it is bad for my district, El Barrio, Harlem, or the Upper West Side... then it is bad for the city," said Perkins.
The Marriott hotel plan passed by a vote of 39 to 7 with one abstention. (Bill Perkins, Letitia James, Robert Jackson, Al Vann, Hiram Monserrate, Eric Dilan, and Charles Barron voted "no;" James Sanders abstained.)
The next Stated Meeting is scheduled for November 23, 2004.
For an archive of past meetings and council votes, visit Gotham Gazette's Searchlight.
New York City Council Stated Meeting Report
Every two weeks the New York City Council meets for its Stated Meeting to introduce and pass legislation. As a regular feature, Searchlight covers these meetings and posts a summary of the bills passed.
STATED MEETING - November 10, 2004
Quote of the Day:
"Last year, when the mayor announced that he wanted to go into the twelve most dangerous schools and help turn those schools around... when the statistics came out months later... it turned out that only one of those twelve was actually among the most dangerous." - City Council Speaker Gifford Miller commenting on the need to better track school crime and violence.
Meeting Summary:
On November 10, the New York City Council passed a package of legislation that it says will improve safety in New York City schools. In recent months, there have been conflicting reports about the severity of school crime.
In the fall of 2003, the United Federation of Teachers reported that the number of criminal incidents against teachers and principals had risen 39 percent and that more than 1,800 students had received transfers to different schools because of concerns over safety. However, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said a few months later that "there is no indication that there has been any significant increase in incidents."
To try to address the issue, the council passed a bill (Intro 266-A) that requires the Department of Education to make more information about school crimes available to the public. The legislation requires a specific listing of each serious, minor, and criminal instance and requires the city make the data available online, at individual schools, and in the annual reports on each school.
"I have a daughter in the fifth grade and when I looked for middle schools, I could not find crime statistics on the Web," said Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr. who drafted the bill. "I could find what they had for lunch, but not crime statistics."
The second bill in the package (Intro 322-A) requires the city to give the council a quarterly report on the number of school safety agents assigned to each school.
The third bill (Intro 150-A) requires that by the end of 2006, every school in the city specify if they have security cameras installed, and if not, to explain why they believe they are not needed. Of the 1,300 schools in New York City, only 155 currently have security cameras. The council also allocated $120 million in the 5-year capital budget for new security cameras, which cost approximately $75,000 per school to install.
Some council members argued that money should be spent on upgrading schools, creating smaller classes, and funding other programs rather than buying security cameras.
"Don't put a police officer next to each child," said Councilmember Charles Barron. "Put a computer and textbook next to each child."
The council passed all three bills. (Councilmember Dennis Gallagher voted against the school safety agent reports and Councilmember Charles Barron voted against the security cameras.)
The City Council also gave its approval to a new Marriott Hotel on 125th Street and Park Avenue in Harlem, the first hotel to be built in the area since 1966.
The building - known as Harlem Park - will feature two floors of retail space, five floors of commercial space, 11 floors of residential space, and 12 floors of hotel rooms. The initial plan called for the tower to be 550 feet tall, but after negotiations with the local community board and council members it was reduced by about 100 feet. Proponents say the project will create about 900 jobs.
Harlem Councilmember Bill Perkins opposes the project, arguing that it will dwarf every other building in Harlem and that the residential apartments will sell for $600 per square foot and will not be affordable to locals.
"If it is bad for my district, El Barrio, Harlem, or the Upper West Side... then it is bad for the city," said Perkins.
The Marriott hotel plan passed by a vote of 39 to 7 with one abstention. (Bill Perkins, Letitia James, Robert Jackson, Al Vann, Hiram Monserrate, Eric Dilan, and Charles Barron voted "no;" James Sanders abstained.)
The next Stated Meeting is scheduled for November 23, 2004.
For an archive of past meetings and council votes, visit Gotham Gazette's Searchlight.
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For New Yorkers who voted 3 to 1 in favor of Democrat John Kerry on Election Day, the initial reaction to George W. Bush's reelection was one of shock, frustration, and anger.
In lower Manhattan, a woman wept on the street corner as she watched Kerry's concession speech through a bar window. Internet message boards and blogs flooded with angry postings questioning how people in the Midwest could rank terrorism and the war in Iraq as less important than "moral values." Some wondered out loud if they could move to Canada.
Even politicians, who are rarely at a loss for words, were dumbfounded. When asked about the election result, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller swallowed hard like he had been hit in the gut and said, "It was a bad day."
Not all New Yorkers shared in the sense of the collective mourning -- "The demographic center of power keeps shifting to the West," said Fred Siegel, a professor at Cooper Union. "Come to grips with it." -- but even Siegel concedes that with a huge deficit, a war in Iraq, and increased spending on anti-terrorism, there is little money for domestic issues: "We're in a bad position in Washington regardless of who's in power."
But George W. Bush is in power. And his administration's policies will surely affect the daily life of New Yorkers.
When the Republicans came to New York for their national convention this summer, each day featured a different general theme, such as "A Safer World," "Opportunity," and "People of Compassion." Just how those feel-good slogans will translate into policies presents many unanswered questions about what President Bush will or will not do for New York over the next four years.
New York's economy is fueled by many different sources: Wall Street and large corporations, middle-class workers, small business owners, and the working poor. What President Bush thinks is good for one segment of the city's economy is, of course, not always good for the rest of it.
How Will the Election Affect the Economy? - Wall Street
Two days after the election, President George W. Bush outlined plans for his next term and promised to continue $1.9 trillion worth of tax cuts over the next 10 years, overhaul the tax system, and push for the partial privatization of Social Security, which would allow people to invest a portion of their Social Security in the stock market.
Wall Street loved it. The Dow Jones industrials gained more than 177 points for its best day of the year, and the S&P 500 closed at its highest level since 2002.
"The reelection of George W. Bush is a tremendously good thing for New York," said E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute. "His policies favor investment."
In New York, the general rule is that when Wall Street does well, so does the city; every $1 billion in Wall Street profits translates to $77 million in tax revenue for the New York, according to the mayor's office. Many of the city's gains of the 1990's - more police, cleaner streets, and improved parks - resulted from money made in the stock market boom.
Still exactly how the president plans to implement his economic plans remains unclear.
On the privatization of Social Security, Bush has not said how he will continue to pay for benefits of retirees if taxes of current workers are diverted to private accounts. The president said he would begin the process by having Congress consider a report on the private accounts, which was authored by the former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
For the time being, Wall Street seems glad that the election - and the uncertainty - is over. And those who support Bush's pro-business economic agenda argue that New York businesses will much better under Bush than they would have under John Kerry.
"New York's long-term economic fate remains in its own hands," McMahon wrote in the New York Sun. "Four more years of Mr. Bush will at least ensure that the federal government is a help, not a hindrance, to New York's prospects for growth."
-Mark Berkey-Gerard
How Will the Election Affect the City Economy? - The Middle-Class
Taxpayer President George W. Bush has made two distinct campaign promises that are likely to complicate and further compromise our city and national fiscal condition. One is the simplification of the tax code and the other is making his tax cuts permanent.
Both will further increase the federal budget deficit, add to the national debt, and squeeze discretionary domestic spending that could help New York.
Bush has not said exactly how he plans to simplify the tax code.
For most conservatives, tax simplification means replacing progressive taxes, like the federal personal income tax, with a regressive "flat tax," often some kind of national sales tax. (The newly elected Republican senator from South Carolina has proposed a 23 percent national sales tax.)
In the past, the president has supported the idea of a national sales tax, but that will only be one of the options that will be considered. Such a tax would be consistent with the premise of Bush's basic tax policy - redistributing the nation's tax burden from the wealthy to the middle and working classes - but is only one of the options reportedly being considered.
The impact of Bush's first-term tax cut policy was outlined in a January Gotham Gazette article, "Bush Tax Cuts and New York": In 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts produced over $1 trillion in benefits over six years, but - because the president borrowed to pay for the tax cuts - largely contributed to budget deficits now over $400 billion a year, skyrocketing national debt now at $7.4 trillion, and an increasing gap between rich and poor (especially in New York).
Since then, two other tax cut bills have been signed into law that exacerbate the deficit and debt problems. The September extension of some of the first-term tax cuts was also paid for with more borrowing ($146 billion over 10 years) and benefits the wealthy more than the middle-class, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
In addition, the October $210 billion corporate tax cut bill, a pork-barrel bonanza, will not protect its primary target -- manufacturing jobs - and won't pay for itself as promised, says a recent Citizens for Tax Justice report. (in pdf format)
It's in this budget-busting, debt-financing context that President Bush now promises a simpler system. But the current tax policy looks all too simple already: It's a radical, fiscally irresponsible tax policy that serves corporate and wealthy America very well, but has yet to serve any useful social or economic purpose.
-Glenn Pasanen
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How Will the Election Affect the Economy? - The Poor and Working Class
Neither President George W. Bush nor Senator John Kerry spent much time on the campaign trail discussing how to help the poorest Americans. Now, though, Congress and the Bush administration will have no choice but to act.
Given the limited amount of funds available for domestic programs and the Bush administration's record on social issues, advocates for the poor are worried.
"Overall the looming deficit is going to put - as it was intended to put - increased pressure to cut domestic programs, particularly social programs" such as welfare, housing and Food Stamps, said Nancy Rankin, director of policy, research and advocacy for the Community Service Society.
With about 1.5 million New Yorkers living in poverty, these programs have a big impact on the city.
Welfare Reform
Welfare will certainly be on the agenda. Congress has tried since 2002 to reauthorize the sweeping 1996 welfare reform act and failed to reach an agreement. Many of the disputes have been along party lines, with Democrats in the Senate trying to hike funding for childcare and, earlier this fall, to link the welfare bill to an increase in the minimum wage.
The increased Republican majority could make it easier for Republicans to pass their version of a welfare bill. President Bush has proposed putting additional requirements on welfare recipients, such as making them work more hours, but also called for increasing the average amount of money a family on public assistance would receive. Republicans have proposed tighter requirements on what constitutes work - something opponents say would make it more difficult for welfare recipients to go to school or get job training - and want to encourage welfare recipients to get married.
Housing
With its high housing costs, federal housing programs are particularly important to New York. The administration backed away from several measures that would have cut housing aid to the city - particularly the Housing voucher plan known as Section 8 - earlier this year. The program helps pay the rent for 220,000 New Yorkers, but three times that number are eligible.
But, as Joe Lamport reported in Gotham Gazette, "the housing voucher program will still face significant cuts next year, advocates fear, particularly if President George W. Bush is reelected."
Some of these changes may be hard to detect. "HUD is doing its best using administrative changes to cut aid," said Rankin. "It's a stealth tactic. You don‚t say openly, 'Let's cut spending.' You just make these administrative changes," such as altering the formula for determining market value rents under Section 8.
One proposal has been to pay for the cost of the Section 8 housing program by cutting other housing initiatives like block grants, supportive living, and public housing. "The administration is rewriting 80 years of federal housing policy," said Joe Weisbord of the group Housing First.
Faith Based Initiatives
For his part, Bush has vowed to continue his policies of supporting religious groups that do charity work.
This could help some of the many religious groups in New York that provide services such as shelters and food programs. But the impact of faith-based initiative programs may be less than its supporters would like.
A recent report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government found that federal and state budget crunches have put a crimp in funding for such efforts.
Minimum Wage
Beyond specific poverty programs, a number of other, broader policies have a disproportionate effect on low income New Yorkers. These include certain health care programs, the minimum wage, some tax policies and family and medical leave plans.
Bush has opposed any increase in the minimum wage for now. "This is still a recovering economy and you don't want to do anything to weaken it, so the president knows we need to be careful and cautious," said John Bailey, deputy policy director for the Bush-Cheney campaign, told the Detroit Press in October.
As long as the federal minimum wage remains where it has been since 1997 - at $5.15 an hour - pressure grows on New York State to increase its own minimum wage. This year, the legislature increased the wage, but Governor George Pataki vetoed the raise.
-Gail Robinson
Small Businesses and Neighborhood Development
Small business development played a prominent role in this presidential season as both candidates struggled to explain how they would create jobs in an economy that continues to under perform in employment terms. Both George W. Bush and John Kerry ran on platforms in which tax incentives, reduced regulatory impediments and lower business-related insurance costs were all promised to the small business community.
Unfortunately, New York was not counted among Bush's red state constituency. More importantly, battle ground states, areas which have not yet successfully made the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a "new economy", have become the prime focus of domestic agenda discussions, especially those regarding job "outsourcing."
In a political environment like this, it will be difficult for community development concerns in New York to receive much attention during the next four years, especially when Bush will be under increasing pressure to reduce the deficit while maintaining his promise to continue cutting taxes.
Whereas former President Bill Clinton directed capital into poor urban (and rural) areas such as Harlem through initiatives like the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) fund and Empowerment Zones, Bush's newly conceived "Opportunity Zones" explicitly reference and cater to "economies in transition." Perhaps most conspicuously, Opportunity Zones are big on tax incentives for small businesses, but fail to make investment capital available, something New York-based businesses routinely clamor for.
This reliance on tax incentives, not to mention free-market forces, deregulation, and corporate self-policing, defines the Bush community-building approach. The "Ownership Society" that he invokes is one in which socio-economic safety nets are privatized and the government for the most part gets out of the way of the individual's pursuit of the American dream.
Most notably, Bush has cut funding for Section 8 housing vouchers and the Small Business Administration and is supportive of the weakening of the Community Reinvestment Act.
While fair banking advocates might at first glance be encouraged by Bush's vow to fight predatory lending practices, they will be disappointed to discover that his prescriptions are limited to home ownership counseling. As a point of comparison, Kerry had promised to maintain funding for low-income housing; build a permanent trust fund for affordable housing production; create a 170 million small business investment fund; oppose the weakening of Community Reinvestment Act and support national legislation to fight predatory lending practices.
In his victory speech, Bush declared he would reach across the aisle and try to find common ground with those who did not vote for him There are many, particularly those in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods here in New York, who hope this comes true.
-Mark Winston-Griffith
Before President George W. Bush fulfills any new campaign promises, some New Yorkers say he should make good on the ones he made in the last term.
In the days following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, President Bush promised $20 billion in federal aid to help rebuild New York and its economy.
The $20 billion, which came in the form of cash, grants, bonds, and tax relief, was divided roughly with: -$6.3 billion in emergency response funding in the immediate weeks after the attack -$4.4 billion in economic recovery grants -$9.7 billion for long term rebuilding projects.
By this summer, it looked as if Bush had delivered.
The federal government had allocated about $18 billion in promised aid and a few weeks before the Republican National Convention, President Bush, at the urging of politicians like Governor George Pataki, supported a plan to let the city use the remaining $2 billion in tax relief to help build a rail link between Lower Manhattan and John F. Kennedy airport.
However, when it came time to vote on the measure, House Republicans opposed it. New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton blamed the White House for the bill's demise.
"I hope this was more than a pre-convention gimmick and that next year the White House will persuade the House to go along with it," said Schumer.
A spokesperson for the White House said at the time that the administration was still working on the issue and "make sure the president's full $20 billion commitment to New York is met."
Schumer has said that the measure is popular enough to pass if the president backs it. But some question if the Republicans, who already enjoyed their summer party in New York, have any incentive to come to the aid of the city.
"I'm not sure we're going to able to count on getting a lot of support from President Bush or this Congress," said Jonathan Bowles of the think-tank Center for an Urban Future.
-Mark Berkey-Gerard
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New York State currently ranks 49th among the 50 states in per capita Homeland Security funding. In 2004, New York State received $5.47 per capita in Homeland Security grants, while North Dakota received $30.42 per capita and Wyoming received $38.31.
And the city's funding has been cut from $188 million in 2003 to approximately $96 million in 2004, according to Commissioner Joseph Bruno of the city's Office of Emergency Management. At that time, Bruno said that city agencies had identified $1 billion in funding needs.
City and state politicians have been lobbying for New York to receive a greater share of federal money, arguing that the city faces a much greater terrorism threat, but those efforts have yet to pay off, tied up in broader homeland security legislation.
Last month, bi-partisan legislation in the Senate and House, drafted primarily to create a new national intelligence director and implement some reforms recommended by the 9/11 commission, included as amendments changes to the formula used to allocate federal funding.
New York Senator Charles Schumer touted an amendment that would allow federal funding to flow directly to New York, bypassing state authorities.
In the House, however, 11 of the 13 representatives from the city voted against a similar intelligence reform bill that included an amendment, which would have boosted funding for the city. They cited concerns about parts of the bill that would have tightened immigration laws and expanded the Patriot Act. The bill passed anyway, and efforts to reach a compromise between the two bills (the Senate bill says less about expanding the Patriot Act) failed before the election, leading some observers to argue that the reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission are simply a non-issue for many Americans. (Each of the city Democrats who voted against the House bill won reelection.)
Now that the election is over, it would seem likely that some reforms based on the 9/11 Commission may have a chance of passing, and the politics involved in whittling a compromise would seem to bode well for efforts to get New York more homeland security dollars - unless partisan intransigency carries the day.
- Jaime Adame
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When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, he pledged that he would be "the education president." And on the campaign trail this year, he repeatedly cited his No Child Left Behind law - a federal measure aimed at setting standards for the nation's public elementary and middle schools - as one of the key achievements of his first term. But Bush set out few, if any, new initiatives for education in this year's campaign.
One thing the president has indicated he would like to do is extend No Child Left Behind's standards - set by states and measured by standardized tests - to high schools. "As we make progress, we will require a rigorous exam before graduation," Bush said in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in September.
But Joseph Viteritti, a Hunter College professor and expert on education policy, expects any such change to have little impact in New York City, home of the nation's largest school system.
"New York has already moved pretty far in that area," he said. "The state commission has already been very aggressive about implementing standards for high school graduation."
No Child Left Behind passed with bipartisan support, but criticism of it has increased as it has gone into effect. For example, the law says that children who attend failing schools - called schools "in need of improvement" - may transfer to other schools. But in New York City, where about a third of schools are failing, this has proved to be virtually impossible - there simply are not enough good schools to accommodate all the children entitled to attend them.
Schools are deemed failing not only if their overall student body performs poorly, but also if their African American, Latino, low-income, English-language learners and disabled students score badly. If schools cannot show they are making progress with each group, they can be determined to be failing. Some educators complain this puts the stigma of failing on good schools. And some states - although not New York - have been faulted for setting overly lax standards.
In light of this, many experts expect that No Child Left Behind will get some fine-tuning. "I think the question is no longer shall the law be changed," Rog Weaver, president of the National Education Association, which endorsed Senator John Kerry for president, told Education Week. "I think the question is how it should be changed."
Sandy Kress, a former Bush education adviser, agrees. While praising No Child Left Behind, he told Education Week, "That's not to say administratively and legislatively, there won't be opportunities to improve and strengthen and make things work better and smarter."
With few specific proposals out there, though, it remains unclear how any changes would affect New York.
One possibility, according to Viteritti, might be an increased emphasis on charter schools - schools that are privately run but publicly funded - to provide alternatives to failing public schools. But, again, he said, this might not have much effect of New York, which has already embraced charter schools.
Vouchers, which parents can use to send their children to private or public schools, have been proposed as another way to provide alternatives in education. Although many conservatives favor them, Viteritti does not think a second Bush administration will bring vouchers to New York City.
"There's a reasonable policy argument for [vouchers] even though people in New York are ideologically opposed to it‚" Viteritti said, "but I can't see them fighting that battle." The administration might try an experiment with vouchers - similar to one already conducted in the District of Columbia - but any such test would take place in more sympathetic territory than New York, he said.
Educators have complained that No Child Left Behind has set requirements on them without giving them enough funding to meet those requirements. The administration counters that it increased federal spending for education during the past four years. Whatever the merits of each side's argument, the huge federal deficit seems to rule against any new infusion of money into the nation's schools, including its largest public school system.
-Gail Robinson
In the next four years, at least one vacancy on the Supreme Court is almost assured with the illness of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. This is President George. W. Bush's chance to remake the high court for a generation and he has given every indication that he will appoint hard-line conservatives (what he would call "strict constructionists") as he has to virtually every federal court in the country - jurists hostile to advancing the rights of women, racial minorities, and gay people.
One of the most prominent people standing in the way of Bush's quest for a more conservative judiciary is New York's Democratic Senator Charles Schumer who was just re-elected with a record-breaking 72 percent of the vote. Schumer has been the Democrats' point person in Senate battles to block the confirmation of judges they see as "out of the mainstream" on issues of civil rights and liberties, particularly a woman's right to choose an abortion.
While the Democrats are down to 44 seats in the Senate (often joined by lone Independent Jim Jeffords of Vermont), it is likely he will continue to use the filibuster to stop Bush's more extreme appointments, denying nominees an up-or-down vote by requiring 60 votes to end the debate on their confirmations. While both Democrat and Republican Judiciary Committees have blocked nominees in past years, Schumer was the first to use the tactic of a filibuster against them.
Pennsylvania's Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who will likely chair the Senate Judiciary Committee next year, may aid Schumer in his quest for more moderate judges. In an interview just after his reelection, Specter said that the current Supreme Court lacks "legal giants" and warned the president about trying to appoint judges who would overturn a woman's right to choose. His impending accession to the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee has made conservatives furious.
-Andy Humm
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The Bush Administration's agenda on civil rights and civil liberties won't be changed much by the president's re-election. What has changed is the political momentum for advancing that agenda with an outright victory for Bush and the election of a Congress that is not just more Republican, but more deeply conservative. This agenda will not sit well with New Yorkers who strongly opposed Bush's reelection and sent relatively liberal Democrats to Congress in all but the Staten Island/South Brooklyn district.
Will Rudy Giuliani Replace John Ashcroft?
With conservative John Ashcroft expected to step down as Attorney General due to health reasons, much will depend on who will replace him at the helm of Department of Justice.
One of those mentioned most frequently as a successor to Attorney General due to health reasons, much will depend on who will replace him at the helm of Department of Justice.
One of those mentioned most frequently as a successor to Ashcroft is former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was one of the most visible partisans for Bush’s reelection this year. Giuliani is opposed in conservative Republican circles for his unwavering support for abortion rights (including late-term abortion) and at least partial support for lesbian and gay rights (though not the right to marry). But of concern to civil libertarians is the contempt Giuliani showed for the First Amendment as mayor, whether it was banning demonstrations and even press conferences in front of City Hall or telling the Brooklyn Museum what art they could and could not display. In those cases and more, civil liberties groups sued Giuliani and beat him. The former mayor’s lack of respect for the rights of criminal suspects and victims of police brutality was also decried during his City Hall years.
Patriot Act
New York is also home to a large Muslim and South Asian population, those who have suffered most from the misuse of provisions of the post-9/11 Patriot Act. The first Patriot Act was supported by both of New York’s Senators, Schumer and Hillary Clinton, also a Democrat, as well as the vast majority of the city’s Congressional delegation. Manhattan Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler has been leading the charge against the excesses of the Patriot Act and Patriot Act II on the table in Congress, but with increased Republican majorities in both houses, Nadler is unlikely to be able to succeed.
Gay Marriage
Same-sex marriage was a huge issue in the 2004 campaign, with a constitutional ban on it promoted by Bush and 13 states barring it through their state constitutions this year. This election will give new life to the failed effort to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment, but that is likely going nowhere unless and until a federal court orders a state that doesn’t want to recognize a legal same-sex marriage from Canada or Massachusetts to do so. Then all bets are off.
New York is making steady progress toward recognizing same-sex marriages. Just last month, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi ruled http://gaycitynews.com/gcn_342/mayorgaymarriagegain.html that the state pension system will treat gay New York couples married in Canada as legal spouses. Governor George Pataki also recently signed a bill giving domestic partners the right to visit each other in the hospital. Several lawsuits are working their way through the state courts seeking the right of same-sex couples to marry. And it does not appear, with Democratic gains in the State Senate and Assembly, that the New York State legislature will pass a law banning same-sex marriage as all but a handful of states have done.
- Andy Humm
Unlike the majority of New Yorkers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg voted for George W. Bush for president. But few believe the city will greatly benefit from Bloomberg’s support for Bush.
While Mayor Bloomberg did support the Republican National Convention and donate $7 million of his own money to help pay for it, the mayor – who faces 2005 reelection in an overwhelmingly Democratic city – was not an active campaigner for the president.
The mayor has also spent a considerable amount of time attacking Congress for shortchanging the city. In June, Bloomberg even barred Ohio Congressman Bob Ney from a lunch at his house because the mayor said that Ney blocked homeland security funding from coming to the city.
"Mike Bloomberg spent much of the summer hiding from Bush," said Douglas Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College. "The mayor has done everything humanly possible to NOT be a Republican, both politically and on policy issues.”
The mayor will also be unable to overcome the lack of an urban agenda in Washington. New York City’s overwhelmingly Democratic delegation to Congress (which includes only one Republican) will be vastly outnumbered.
Democrats interested in challenging Bloomberg next year are already placing some of the blame for Kerry’s loss on the mayor.
“George Bush has not been a good president for this city,” said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who is a possible mayoral candidate. “I think New Yorkers at least recognize that, and I wish our mayor and governor did.”
U.S. Rep. Anthony Wiener, who is also considering a run, put it more bluntly; the day after the election he issued a statement that read; "New Yorkers turned out in record numbers to defend their city. Mike Bloomberg was fighting on the other side."
- Mark Berkey-Gerard
Wall Street Economy
Wall Street's Future (Gotham Gazette)
Transcript of George W. Bush 11/04 Press Conference (NY Times)
Middle-Class Taxpayers
Bush Tax Cuts and New York (Gotham Gazette)
New York’s Gains from Federal Tax Cuts (Manhattan Institute Report)
Many Middle Class Will End Up Net Losers In Tax Cut Legislation(Center on Budget Priorities Report)
$210 Million in Corporate Tax Cuts (in pdf format) (Citizens for Tax Justice) Report) The Poor and Working Class
Combined Impact of the Federal, New York State and New York City Income Tax Changes (in pdf format) (Fiscal Policy Institute Report)
Milking the Middle Class (Drum Major Institute)
Poor and Working Class
Bush's Welfare Reform Plans(Gotham Gazette)
Compassion in Action: The Bush Campaign Information on Poverty Reforming Welfare Reform (American Prospect)
Women and Welfare Reform: How Policies Have Women and Children (Women's Enews)
The Challenge of Achieving High Work Participation
Married to the Solution: Marriage as a Way to Fight Child Poverty(National Review)
Helping Pay The Rent: Section 8 Saved (Gotham Gazette)
Fiscal Pressures Face Expansion of Faith-Based Social Service Programs(Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government)
Arguments for Raising Minimum Wage (AFL-CIO report)
Arguments Against Raising Minimum Wage (Free Market Net Spotlight)
Small Businesses and Neighborhood Development
President Bush's Opportunity Zones (The White House)
Opportunity Zones: An Empty OZ (Gotham Gazette)
U.S. Set to Alter Rules for Bank Lending to Poor (NY Times)
9/11 Aid
Rail Link To Airport Plan (Gotham Gazette)
Where Is New York's $20 Billion? (in pdf format) (Independent Budget Office Report)
Anti-Terrorism Funding Office of Emergency Management Testimony to 9/11 Commission (NYC.gov)
U.S. Senate Bill to Bring Homeland Security Aid Directly to Cities
Department of Homeland Security Fact Sheet
Operation Atlas and the Security of New York (Gotham Gazette)
Homeland Security Funding by Rep. Joseph Crowley (Gotham Gazette)
Education
No Child Left Behind: Official Information (Department of Education)
No Child Left Behind Primer (Education Week)
Bush to Seek Accountability in High School (Education Week)
New York's Children Left Behind? (Gotham Gazette)
How New York Public Schools Have Fared (Gotham Gazette)
Bush Education Agenda Headed for Renewal (Education Week)
SchoolChoice Info: Web Site About Support for Vouchers
Private School Vouchers Remain Bad Public Policy (Democratic Policy Committee)
Nation's Charter Schools Lagging Behind (NY Times)
Charters Schools Institute, State University of New York How A Bigger Education Budget Became Less Money for Schools (in pdf format) (Independent Budget Office Report)
Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court Web Site
Bush Has Chance To Remake Supreme Court (BBC.uk)
Civil Rights Text of U.S.A Patriot Act
ACLU Resources on Patriot Act
Debating the Patriot Act (Gotham Gazette)
State Comptroller Rules that Pension Plan Will Recognize Gay Marriages from Canada (Gay City News)
Civil Liberties and Police Surveillance (Gotham Gazette)
The following results are based on the unofficial vote tally as reported by the wire services and, as much as possible, directly from the New York City Board of Elections. The official count from the Board of Elections can take weeks to complete and will be posted as soon as they are available. The results below are subject to change as the official count is made public.
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
President |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
Seat 1 | ||
Seat 2 | No Election Until 2006 | - |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
Dist 5 - Queens | ||
Dist 6 - Queens | ||
Dist 7 - Bronx | ||
Dist 8 - Manhattan | ||
Dist 9 - Queens | ||
Dist 10 - Brooklyn | ||
Dist 11 - Brooklyn | ||
Dist 12 - Brooklyn | ||
Dist 13 - Brooklyn | ||
Dist 14 - Manhattan | ||
Dist 15 - Manhattan | ||
Dist 16 - Bronx | ||
Dist 17 - Bronx |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
76 - Fordham, West Farms, Parkchester, Castle Hill | ||
77 - Highbridge, Morrisania | ||
78 - Bronx Park South, Belmont, Fordham, Bedford Park, South Riverdale, Van Cortland Village, Marble Hill | ||
79 - Morrisania, Claremont, Crotona-Mapes, Longwood, Charlotte Gardens, Belmont | ||
80 - Pelham Parkway, Morris Park, Van Nest, Pelham Bay, Van Cortlandt Village, Norwood, Bedford Park | ||
81 - Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Van Cortlandt Village, Marble Hill, Norwood, Woodlawn, Wakefield | ||
82 - Co-op City, Throgs Neck, City Island, Locust Point, Edgewater Park, parts of Castle Hill, Westchester Square, Zerega | ||
83 - Olinville, Williamsbridge, Wakefield, Edenwald, Eastchester, Fish Bay, Baychester | ||
84 - Highbridge, Melrose, Longwood, Mott Haven, Port Morris, Hunts Point | ||
85 - Bronx River, Harding Park, Clason Point, Hunts Point and Soundview | ||
86 - Bronx |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
28 - South and West Bronx, East Harlem, Roosevelt Island, parts of North Yorkville, Upper Washington Heights | ||
31 - West Side of Manhattan, Northwest Bronx | ||
32 - Soundview, Castle Hill, Clasons Point, Hunts Point, Mott Haven, Melrose, Parkchester, Morrisania, Van Nest, West Farms, Bronx River | ||
33 - Bronx | ||
34 - Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, Throgsneck, City Island, Woodlawn, Norwood, Wakefield, Yonkers, Pelham, Pelham Manor, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon | ||
36 - Bronx |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
40 - East New York, Brownsville | ||
41 - Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, Flatlands, Canarsie, East Flatbush | ||
42 - Flatbush, Midwood | ||
43 - Crown Heights, Flatbush | ||
44 - Park Slope, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Windsor Terrace | ||
45 - Brighton Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Flatbush, Manhattan Beach, Midwood, Plum Beach, Sheepshead Bay | ||
46 - Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Dyker Heights, Marlboro, Sea Gate, high-rises of Brightwater, Luna Park, Trump Village, Warbasse | ||
47 - Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights and Midwood | ||
48 - Boro Park, Dyker Heights, Kensington, Flatbush | ||
49 - Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Borough Park | ||
50 - Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Downtown Brooklyn | ||
51 - Sunset Park, Red Hook, Wyckoff, Gowanus, Windsor Terrace, South of Park Slope, Borough Park, Boerum Hill | ||
52 - Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Bay Ridge | ||
53 - Bushwick, Ridgewood, Williamsburg | ||
54 - Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bedford, Stuyvesant, East New York, Cypress Hills, City Line | ||
55 - Oceanhill, Browsville, Bedford, Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Bushwick | ||
56 - Tompkins Park North, Weeksville, Bedford-Stuyvesant | ||
57 - Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Flatbush, parts of Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant | ||
58 - Flatbush, Brownsville, Canarsie | ||
59 - Flatlands, Canarsie, Mill Island, Bergen Beach |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
17 - Bushwick, Cypress Hills, parts of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York | ||
18 - Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Red Hook, parts of Park Slope, Carroll Gardens | ||
19 - Canarsie, East Flatbush, parts of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East New York | ||
20 - Brooklyn | ||
21 - Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Borough Park | ||
22 - Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, southern Sunset Park, Boro Park, St. George, Stapleton, Rosebank, Dongan Hills, Grassmere, New Dorp, South Beach, Midland Beach, Arrochas, Thompkinsville, Clifton | ||
23 - Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Seagate, Coney Island, Windsor Terrace, parts of Brighton Beach, Kensington, Flatbush, Sunset Park, Park Slope in Brooklyn. North Shore of Staten Island | ||
25 - Williamsburg, Sunset Park, Navy Yard, Lower Manhattan | ||
27 - Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Bergan Beach, Flatbush |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
64 - Lower East Side | ||
65 - Upper East Side of Manhattan, Roosevelt Island | ||
66 - Greenwich Village, SoHo, Tribeca, East Village | ||
67 - Upper West Side of Manhattan | ||
68 - Harlem | ||
69 - Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights | ||
70 - Morningside Heights, Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville | ||
71 - West Harlem, Washington Heights | ||
72 - Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill | ||
73 - East side of Manhattan | ||
74 - East side of Manhattan | ||
75 - Chelsea, Clinton, Murray Hill, Midtown, Lincoln Center area in Manhattan |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
25 - Williamsburg, Sunset Park, Navy Yard, Lower Manhattan | ||
26 - Murray Hill, Tutor City, Sutton Place, Yorkville | ||
28 - South and West Bronx, East Harlem, Roosevelt Island, parts of North Yorkville, Upper Washington Heights | ||
29 - Manhattan's West Side from 77th Street to Battery Park, sections of East Midtown, Lower East Side, Little Italy, Chinatown | ||
30 - Harlem, Upper West Side, Washington Heights | ||
31 - West Side of Manhattan, Northwest Bronx |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
22 - Queens | ||
23 - Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Far Rockaway | ||
24 - New Hyde Park, Flushing , Fresh Meadows, Jamaica Estates, Little Neck, Bayside, Holliswood, Bellerose, Floral Park, Glen Oak, Douglaston | ||
25 - Flushing, Whitestone | ||
26 - East Flushing, Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Whitestone, Malba, Bay Terrace, Floral Park | ||
27 - Flushing, Queen Garden Hill, College Point, Briarwood, Auberndale, Hill Crest, Jamaica Estates | ||
28 - Forest Hills, Rego Park, Middle Village, Glendale | ||
29 - Rosedale, Laurelton, Queens Village | ||
30 - Maspeth, Woodside, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Middle Village, Astoria | ||
31 - Far Rockaway, Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, South Ozone Park | ||
32 - Jamaica Estates, South Jamaica Estates, Rochdale, Springfield | ||
33 - Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Howard, St. Alban, Bellerose, Cunnigham Heights | ||
34 - Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona | ||
35 - East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, Woodside | ||
36 - Astoria, Old Astoria, Long Island City, Queensbridge, Ditmars, Ravenswood, Steinway | ||
37 - Sunnyside, Ridgewood, Astoria, Woodside, Long Island City, Maspeth, Ravenswood, Blissville | ||
38 - Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Glendale, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village | ||
39 - Jackson Heights, Corona |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
10 - Queens | ||
11 - Queens Village, Flushing, Bayside Whitestone, Douglaston, Little Neck, College Point, Bellerose, Hollace, Jamaica Estates, Floral Park, Glenn Oak, New Lead Park | ||
12 - Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Jackson Heights, Bayside, Flushing, Bay Terrace | ||
13 - Jackson Heights, Corona and parts of Elmhurst | ||
14 - St. Albans, Laurelton, Cambria Heights, Springfield Gardens, Rockaways | ||
15 - Forest Hills Gardens, Glendale, Hamilton Beach, Howard Beach, Maspeth, Middle Village, Old Howard Beach, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, parts of Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Ozone Park, Rego Park, Richmond Hill, South Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Sunnyside, Woodside | ||
16 - Flushing, Bay Terrace, Forest Hills, Rego Park |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
60 - Brooklyn: Bay Ridge, Fort Hamiliton. Staten Island: Eltingville, Great Kills, Richmond, Oakwood Beach, New Dorp Beach, Midland Beach, Fort Wadsworth, Dongan Hills, Emerson Hills, Grant City, Rosebank, Shore Acre, Grasmere, Arrochae | ||
61 - Westerleigh, Mariners Harbor, Port Richmond, West New Brighton, Livingston, New Brighton, Randall Manor, St. George, Stapleton, Tompkinsville | ||
62 - New Dorp, Oakwood, Great Kills, Eltingville, Annandale, Huguenot, Pleasant Plains, Prince’s Bay, Cottonville, Roseville | ||
63 - Staten Island |
Office | Winner | Date Posted |
23 - Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Seagate, Coney Island, Windsor Terrace, parts of Brighton Beach, Kensington, Flatbush, Sunset Park, Park Slope in Brooklyn. North Shore of Staten Island | ||
24 - Staten Island |
Office | Winner | Date Posted | ||||||||||||
Supreme Court | ||||||||||||||
Supreme Court | Supreme Court | Civil Court - Countywide | Civil Court - Countywide | Civil Court - District 2 |
Office | Winner | Date Posted | ||||||||||||||||||
Supreme Court | ||||||||||||||||||||
Supreme Court | Supreme Court | Supreme Court | Supreme Court | Civil Court - Countywide | Civil Court - Countywide | Civil Court - Countywide |
This feature has moved to a new location. If you are not automatically directed to the correct page, click the following link: |
New York rap star 50 Cent poses to help Citizens Change drive young voters to the polls Related: |
Chinatown resident Peter Chen is excited about going to the polls for the first time on Tuesday, November 2 and hopes his vote will make a difference.
"I am concerned about the economy and standard of living in Chinatown," said Chen. "And the war in Iraq is a major issue for me."
Chen is one of 338,000 recently registered voters in New York City (and an estimated 10 million new voters nationwide) who could help decide what has been called the most important election in a generation.
But when asked about other races in New York on Election Day - for U.S. Senate, Congress, State Legislature, and judicial seats - Chen admitted he did not know who was on the ballot.
"I only know about the race for president," he said.
For New Yorkers looking for information beyond the presidential race, Gotham Gazette offers the following guide for the last minute voter.
After the election is over, visit Gotham Gazette for the results of all of the races, from president to civil court judge.
President
While most of the presidential campaign has focused on the war in Iraq and terrorism, and the candidates have spent most of their time in "swing states," the next president will shape the future of the city in key ways.
For ten ways the next president could help - or hurt - New York City, see an issue-by-issue breakdown of the positions and promises of George W. Bush and John Kerry.
For a list of all of the candidates who will appear on the New York City ballot and their Web sites, see Gotham Gazette's presidential page.
U.S. Senate
New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer faces six challengers on Election Day. (Senator Hillary Clinton does not have to run again until 2006.)
In a recent debate, Schumer and two challengers - Republican Howard Mills and Conservative Marilyn O'Grady - offered differing views on local issues like taxes, funding for homeland security, and whether a Jets stadium should be built on the west side of Manhattan.
And although he was not allowed to be part of the debate, Green Party candidate David McReynolds outlines his platform, which includes ending the war in Iraq, legalizing gay marriage, and relying on more sustainable sources of energy in a Gotham Gazette article.
For more on each of the candidates, their views, and an archive of news stories about the race see Gotham Gazette's coverage of the Senate race.
U.S. House
Twelve of the thirteen New York representatives to the U.S. Congress face challengers in the General Election (Rep. Gregory Meeks is running unopposed in southeastern Queens).
Gotham Gazette asked each incumbent and many challengers to write articles about their ideas on critical issues like housing, transportation, health care, and the environment. (To read the articles, visit Focus on the Feds.)
To find out who is running in your district, type your address into Gotham Gazette's Congressional District finder.
See a full list of candidates for Congress in New York City.
State Legislature
All 89 New York City representatives to the New York State Legislature are up for re-election this fall. And most New Yorkers who have read a newspaper in recent months know at least one thing about the government in Albany - it's a mess.
Lawmakers in Albany missed the budget deadline for the 20th year in a row. They failed to come up with funding for city schools even though the courts ordered them to do so. And several members have been indicted in scandals and criminal activity. Last month, former Senator Guy Velella, who was serving a one-year sentence for bribery, was released from jail by an obscure commission after serving only three months. (Read more about Albany's Dysfunction)
However, despite calls for reform and new leadership, most of the incumbents will be heading back to Albany after Election Day; a quarter of the city's incumbents face no opposition.
Still there are some races to watch.
In the Bronx, Democrat Jeff Klein, Republican John Fleming and Independence/Conservative Stephen Kauffman are battling to fill a vacant seat left open after Velella left office. (See an article on this race.)
In Brooklyn and the north shore of Staten Island, Democrat Diane Savino and Republican Al Curtis face off for an open seat created by the retirement of Senator Seymour Lachman. (Read an article on this race).
In East Harlem, Democrat Jose Serrano is challenging long-time Senator Olga Mendez, who switched to the Republican Party in 2002. (Read an article about this race.)
And in Flushing, Queens, Democrat Jimmy Meng, after defeating incumbent Assemblymember Barry Grodenchik in the primary, will face Republican Meilin Tan and Green Party candidate Evergreen Chou in a race that will likely produce the first Asian American member of the State Legislature. (Learn more about this race.)
For more state races to watch, see Gotham Gazette's Eye On Albany 2004.
Click here for a full list of all of the state primary races and candidates.
Judicial Races
On Election Day, New Yorkers will also elect judges to serve in local courts.
Each borough will choose Supreme Court judges who oversee criminal cases, divorces, and civil cases where the value of the dispute - whether it is commercial, personal injury, real estate, or a civil rights case - is more than $25,000;
Some voters will also select Civil Court judges who hear private, non-criminal lawsuits, which have a monetary value of less than $25,000. (Read an article explaining the New York court system.)
New York's courts have also been plagued by scandals and by corruption in the way judges are elected. To learn more, play Gotham Gazette's interactive Judges Game.
Click here for a full list of judicial candidates.
Voters who have registered should have received a yellow postcard in the mail with the address of their polling place. If you did not, call the Board of Elections at 1-866-VOTE NYC. You can also e-mail them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your complete address, and you should receive an email back instructing you where to vote. You can also look it up online at www.mypollingplace.com.
Polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 9:00 p.m.
Those who wish to file absentee ballots have two delivery options.
New voting regulations may cause confusion at the polls this year.
New Yorkers who registered to vote for the first time via mail after January 1, 2003, will be asked to provide identification, such as a driver's license, when they go to the polls.
Those without a driver's license can also offer a copy of one of the following:
Those who don't have any form of identification or refuse to supply one will be allowed to vote on paper ballot, not in the machines, according to the Board of Elections. Those votes will be counted if they are verified to match registration forms. (Read more about I.D. requirements.)
The new rule is part of the federal Help America Vote Act, which Congress passed after the turmoil in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. (Read more about efforts to reform voting in New York.)
The New York Voter's Bill of Rights guarantees the right to:
"Vote: The right to vote includes voting for candidates and questions on the ballot.
Have Your Vote Count: Vote on a voting system that is in working condition and that will allow votes to be accurately counted.
Secrecy in Voting: Secrecy in voting will be preserved for all elections.
Freedom in Voting: Cast your vote, free from coercion or intimidation by poll workers or any other person.
Permanent Registration: Once registered to vote, you will continue to remain qualified to vote from an address within your county or city.
Accessible Elections: Non-discriminatory equal access to the election system for all voters, including the elderly, disabled, alternative language minorities, military and overseas citizens, as required by federal and state laws.
Assistance in Voting: You may ask for help in voting because of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write.
Instructions in Voting: You can view a sample ballot in this polling place prior to voting, and before entering the machine, you may request help in how to operate the machine.
Absentee Voting: If you will be out of your county of residence on Election Day, or are unable to go to your polling place due to illness or physical disability, you may cast an absentee ballot.
Affidavit Voting: Whenever your name does not appear in the official poll book, you will be offered an affidavit ballot."
If a poll worker says you are not on the list, ask an inspector to verify that you are at the correct Election and Assembly District for your address. If you believe that you are eligible to vote, you can ask for a paper ballot. After the election, the Board of Elections will check its records and your vote will be counted if you are deemed eligible to vote and were at the correct polling site.
The Board of Elections says that it has increased efforts to make polling places accessible for senior citizens and handicapped voters, but they admit that there are still problems at some sites. Voters who feel that their polling site is inaccessible should call the Voter Registration Unit of their local borough office for information.
For answers to basic questions like "What If I Need Assistance In The Voting Booth?" and "Can I Take Time Off Work To Vote?" see the New York Civil Liberties Union voting guide.
If you encounter problems at the polls, call one of the following places:
For assistance in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Hindi, Khmer and English, call the Asian American Legal Defense Fund at 800-966-5946.
For assistance in Spanish or English, call the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
On Election Day, most media outlets will focus on the presidential race. For results of all the local races as they become available on election night and the days following, visit Gotham Gazette's results page.
Many experts are predicting that the presidential election may not be decided on Election Day.
In 2000, the Supreme Court did not rule on the lawsuit of Bush v. Gore until December 12. (Read New York Times articles from attorneys for Al Gore and George W. Bush on their predictions of what will happen in this year's vote count.)
For weeks leading up to the election, there have been dozens of daily stories of faulty voting machines, legal challenges to voting rolls, a shortage of poll workers, misplaced absentee ballots, and accusations from both political parties that the other side is trying to disenfranchise voters or commit voter fraud.
To track news on the voting process in New York and in other states, see Gotham Gazette's Election Watch.
And while you are waiting for election results, learn about some of the problems in the New York's voting system by playing interactive games at Gotham Gazette's Voting Arcade.
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New York City Council Stated Meeting Report
Every two weeks the New York City Council meets for its Stated Meeting to introduce and pass legislation. As a regular feature, Searchlight covers these meetings and posts a summary of the bills passed.
STATED MEETING - October 27, 2004
Quote of the Day:
"This afternoon will live in good government infamy.... I will not participate in a campaign finance system changed in an election year. I say this as someone who has always been a participant. I will pass up all the matching funds that I would be entitled to and I won't touch a single, dirty dollar." - Brooklyn Councilmember Simcha Felder voting against changes in the city's campaign finance program.
Meeting Summary:
The City Council passed a package of bills that it promises will strengthen and improve the city's campaign finance program.
The measures (Intros 124-A, 371-A, and 466-A) increase the maximum amount of public matching funds to $6 for every $1 a candidate raises. The six-to-one matching funds apply to donations under $250 in mayoral races where candidates spend more than $17 million or in City Council races where a candidate spends more than $450,000.
Under the current law, candidates who agree to spending limits are eligible for $4 to $1 matching funds; in mayoral races where a candidate spends more than $2.8 million, candidates are eligible for $5 to $1.
The legislation would also require self-financed candidates who choose not to be part of the voluntary public financing system to abide by the same limits on contributions and spending as those who join the program. Candidates who are not part of the program would also have to comply with disclosure requirements.
The legislation will aid opponents of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent $74 million of his own money in 2001 and has said he is willing to spend more to get reelected in 2005. City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who said that the bills would help "ensure free and fair elections," is considered a possible candidate in next year's mayoral race.
The council approved the legislation by a vote of 42 to 7.
Four Democrats - Simcha Felder, Tony Avella, Allan Jennings, and Madeline Provenzano - and three Republicans - James Oddo, Dennis Gallagher, and Andrew Lanza - voted against increasing the amount of matching funds.
"The six to one match is obscene," said Councilmember Madeline Provenzano. "The more money you hand out to people the less responsible they are for it."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who called the council's action "the ultimate backroom deal," has promised to veto the bills. The City Council has more than the two-thirds majority of votes needed to override his veto, but the portions that require all candidates to abide by spending limits will likely be challenged in court.
Good government groups like the New York Public Interest Research Group, Common Cause, and Citizens Union (a sister group of Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette) all support the changes to the campaign finance program, which has been called a model for other programs across the nation.
The bills were amended significantly from their original form, which called for $8 to $1 matching funds and sought to prevent candidates from transferring funds from previous campaigns to another election.
"This takes us to another level," said Councilmember Bill Perkins, who helped draft the bill. "We are leveling the playing field so that money does not dominate the process."
The City Council also approved a bill (Intro 418-A) that requires city agencies to create a list of civil service eligible workers, so that employees and unions can keep track of where workers stand for promotions and other appointments.
The council also approved a new business improvement district along Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
The next Stated Meeting is scheduled for November 10.
For an archive of past meetings and council votes, visit Gotham Gazette's Searchlight.
Joe Kreisberg, president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, recounts an incident that happened two or three years ago that defied political logic.
At that time Senator John Kerry had brought together a group of community folks in Massachusetts trying to jumpstart daycare centers and joined them with successful business people and other stake holders.
Kerry was trying to help care providers develop skill sets that would enable them to push through regulatory red tape and other obstacles that were blocking good faith efforts to build neighborhood day care institutions.
"I remembered thinking‚" Kreisberg said, "why is Kerry doing this? He is never going to run on these issues."
Kreisberg will never know for sure, but he was forced to conclude that Kerry had undertaken this project "because it was important to him and that he understood that he could use his position to make things happen."
At a time when the rhetoric of both presidential campaigns has focused mostly on the war in Iraq, the health of the national economy and various so-called character issues, Kreisberg hopes this experience represents an omen for a Kerry administration in the event Kerry is elected president.
The fact that you will never hear Bush, Kerry or any presidential media coverage specifically use the term "community development‚" makes it necessary to determine independently how that neighborhood-based universe of concerns -- housing, small business development, job development and social justice policy -- is addressed by each candidate. Last month this topic page examined one of President Bush's signature community development initiatives, "Opportunity Zones"
This month I will attempt to project how community development in New York would be affected by a Kerry White House.
Low-Income Housing Advocate
A significant policy difference between Bush and Kerry is in the area of housing.
Although both candidates offer ways to promote homeownership among low income people, Kerry has promised to maintain funding for the low-income housing program, HOPE VI, and the Section 8 voucher program, two targets of Bush budget cuts
Massachusetts-based fair housing and small business development advocates who have worked with Senator Kerry in the past describe a man who was personally engaged in the issues, well informed and a reliable ally on important legislation affecting low- and moderate-income communities.
Thomas Callahan, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance says Kerry has for the most part been a leader in bringing not-for-profit and for-profit forces together in Massachusetts to build affordable housing.
Massachusetts has in fact been a model in this regard, partly because of its success in providing subsidies to developers to build affordable housing, even mixed income housing in the suburbs.
As an example of what Kerry is capable of, Callahan points to Kerry's co-authorship of the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act, proposed legislation that would take FHA surpluses and establish a permanent fund for housing production.
According to local observers, the bill is building momentum and stands a decent chance of eventually becoming law.
"The Trust Fund would have a tremendous impact on states like New York‚" where the cost of affordable housing production is so prohibitively high, advises Callahan. "Kerry was there‚" Callahan insists, championing and pushing this legislation "from the beginning."
Small Business Development's Ranking Member
A visit to the Kerry for President website and a look at his community development-related positions reveals a fairly wide range of thinking and policy development that was not always obvious from the debates or from his stump speeches.
Many people would be surprised to find out, for example, that John Kerry promises to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.00 by 2007; expand unemployment insurance to cover more people, provide more benefits for people between jobs and help laid off workers receive job training; protect workers' rights to organize a union; and strengthen whistle blower protections for "speaking truth to power."
Promising to usher in a "new era of opportunity‚" for small businesses and micro-enterprises, Kerry also says he will create a $170 million investment fund designed to make billions in capital and equity available to small business, including micro-enterprises with five or fewer employees and revenues under $500,000; establish tax credits to help offset the start-up costs of pension plans; provide tax credits that cover employer's share of payroll expenses; and help new venture firms provide financing and technical assistance in low-income communities.
In fact, one of Kerry's strongest community development credentials is that he is a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Mark Barbash, the director of the City of Columbus Ohio's development corporation, manages a Small Business Administration micro enterprise lending program and other loan programs for small businesses (Disclosure: City of Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman is a strong Kerry supporter).
Prior to his city job, Barbash used to lobby for increased federal support for micro businesses and small businesses in Washington on behalf of a small business development trade association.
Barbash was impressed with Kerry's grasp of "mind-numbing detail‚" and recounts giving testimony before Kerry's committee and finding Kerry to have a "good grounding on not just the SBA programs, but the difficulties that businesses face on the ground...He had a good understanding of what it took to run a small business; he understood that it wasn't just about capital and sometimes the best decision was not to go into business."
Kreisberg, who has also testified before Kerry's committee, said that Kerry distinguished himself at hearings because "he listened and actually made responses based on what people said."
Kreisberg points out that Kerry was a sponsor of the Prime Act which authorizes the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to provide support to micro-enterprise organizations and micro-entrepreneurs.
Furthermore he confirmed that Kerry was "very aggressive about getting loans to small business‚" as distinct from Bush who has not made access to capital a significant part of his small business development policy.
Perhaps most importantly, Barbash remembers Kerry talking a lot about workforce development and "investing in technology which can take ideas and move them into production."
According to Ken Adams, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, issues like these have as much resonance in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Sunset Park as they do in Barbash's Columbus, Ohio. A Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce membership survey revealed that finding sufficiently trained and educated workers is a major concern for small business owners. Other insurance-related issues that have appeared on the campaign trail – the high cost of liability insurance, employee health plans and workers' compensation – are also the kinds of problems that small business owners in Brooklyn say they are expecting government to help solve.
Larry Vivola, co-CEO of the family-run ravioli manufacturing and franchise company, Fratelli Ravioli, says that health care and liability insurance are his two highest costs after salaries.
Fratelli Ravioli, which has eight full-time staff people, has endured a more than doubling of its liability insurance premium in the last two years and its health insurance premiums have risen thirty to forty percent every year for the past three years.
Gilbert Rivera, the founder of Park Avenue Building and Roofing Supplies, cited the same problems. He pointed out that his company's employee health insurance premiums have jumped from $90,000 to $220,000 over a five year period.
Although Kerry and Bush offer slightly different approaches, they both call for tort reform and have taken aim at reducing health care costs for small businesses.
In particular Kerry has proposed refundable tax credits for up to 50 percent of the cost of health care coverage for small businesses and their employees. Rivera, a self-proclaimed undecided voter, says that these insurance issues will play as important a role in the way he votes as his feelings about the war in Iraq.
Consumer Protector
Perhaps what most distinguishes Kerry's community development positions is his promotion of consumer policies designed to protect low-income people, such as his support for national legislation to fight predatory lending practices and his opposition to the weakening the Community Reinvestment Act. (Recently the FDIC made the news by proposing to relax the obligations of a large number of financial institutions under the Community Reinvestment Act.)
Although he sometimes wished it was "higher on Kerry's priority list‚" Thomas Callahan says that Kerry was a reliable ally to those seeking to defend the Community Reinvestment Act from routine attacks by policy makers and the financial services lobby.
Callahan's recollection was that it "was always a no-brainer‚" for Kerry to support the reinvestment act.
Reality Check
For those who believe in traditional liberal models of community development, which combine resources to lift people out poverty with a proactive social justice agenda, Kerry has always embodied the right politics.
And yet, there is reason to question how committed Kerry will be to this political legacy, especially since observers have watched his national campaign downplay his more left-leaning tendencies and appeal to the more moderate areas of the electorate.
Also, with a soaring budget deficit and Kerry promising tax cuts to the middle class, Bush's most credible criticism of Kerry is that it will simply be impossible for Kerry to pay for all his social largess.
Most importantly, with the war in Iraq, national security, health care reform, social security and other high profile demands on what would be his international and domestic agenda, it's pretty safe to say that some of Kerry's campaign proposals will be crowded out and never see the light of day.
Callahan admits that Kerry will have a much more difficult time in Washington, especially with a Republican congress, than he did in Boston, but Callahan refuses to make any predictions.
"It's hard to know. He's been a senator, not a chief executive.
He hasn't had to make tough budget decisions.‚"
Callahan holds out hope for initiatives like the Affordable Housing Trust Fund which would work "with an existing program, use surplus revenue and not require additional spending."
When it comes to strengthening consumer protections, Sarah Ludwig, executive director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, is more skeptical, mainly because she would hold a Kerry White House to a higher standard in tackling what she believes is this generation's civil rights issue.
Ludwig views community development essentially as a process of capital and wealth redistribution.
Financial services in this country, in her opinion, represent a "rigged system‚" that has allowed low-income areas to be over-run with debt and credit abuse and where nearly every consumer protection enacted since the New Deal has been dismantled.
Ludwig believes that these issues "resonate with Kerry and that he won't shy away from the complexity of the issues, but that corporate accountability is not something that he talks about.‚" Referring to interests as disparate as insurance companies, mortgage bankers, payday lenders and the securities industry, Ludwig doubts if "Kerry has what it takes to stand up to the financial services lobby and say we have to restore meaningful laws around consumer protections."
Kreisberg recognizes that a "quantum leap‚" in many of the areas that Kerry is concerned about is "only going to happen when they are at the top of his hit list and right now that's not the case.‚"
But despite these forecasts, community development advocates and voters in poor neighborhoods may find some comfort in the story that Kreisberg tells about the aspiring day care providers and business people who were brought together by Kerry in Massachusetts a few years ago.
Kerry confounded Kreisberg's expectations by taking on a low-profile cause where there was little political capital to be gained.
As Kreisberg recalls "He seemed to care enough and understand about what life is like in low-income communities even though it is below the political radar screen."
Romare Bearden, Midtown, on exhibit at the Whitney. It Happened In 1904 |
Not long ago I visited Vienna. As soon as I arrived, I walked to the plaza at the center of town, the Stephansplatz, dominated by the dark mass of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. I was standing, or so I imagined, in the historical center of Europe – at least the Europe of 1900. It was very quiet. The Stephansplatz -- like the Place des Vosges or the Piazza della Republica or Belgrave Square -- is a serene place set aside for pedestrians, for all the great European capitals were fully formed long before the advent of the automobile. Standing there, I couldn’t help thinking of another square, which a melancholy bard named Benjamin De Casseres once described as a “ganglion of streets that fuse into a traffic cop.” I was thinking, of course, of Times Square, the crossroads of New York – of the planet, in its own estimation.
There may be some great popular tunes about the Stephansplatz but, somehow, I doubt it. The whole world knows Times Square, and not only through songs but through shows and movies and electric signs and radio and TV. And while other mythic urban places have about them the solemn grandeur that comes of tragedy and bloodshed, Times Square is a place associated only with pleasure and dissipation, even if at times the dissipation has had an ominous edge. Since 1904, when the subway opened up, when the Times Tower was completed, and when Mayor George McClellan officially gave the neighborhood its name – Times Square has been the world’s preeminent good time place.
We can trace Times Square’s destiny back to 1811, when a commission appointed by New York’s Common Council published an astonishingly audacious plan to tame the rocky wilds on Manhattan into a grid of streets. The commissioners noted that they had considered the use of “circles, ovals and stars” but had concluded that since “a city is to be composed principally of the habitations of men, and that straight-sided right-angled homes are the most cheap to build,” New York would have no such embellishments. The only exception to the city’s unvarying rectilinearity would be the diagonal stretch of Broadway, too prominent a thoroughfare to be erased.
From the beginning, New York’s entertainment district had tended to cluster around Broadway simply because the street was broad and ran more or less up the middle of the island. The city developed northward, and the development of new residential and retail neighborhoods tends to push the theaters, bars and restaurants farther up Broadway. By the 1860s, the city’s first theater district came into being at Union Square, where Broadway crossed 14th Street and a large waste area had been turned into a park. The juncture of Broadway and 14th Street came to be known as the Rialto because show people passed through it all day and night.
The Rialto kept moving northward. By the 1880s, the entertainment district had reached the junction where Broadway crossed 23rd Street at the base of Madison Avenue. The area immediately around Madison Square, a lovely park, was New York’s most refined shopping district. The lowlife beckoned from Sixth Avenue, where the elevated railroad carried New Yorkers of lesser ilk; bars and brothels, clustered along the side streets. But the worlds appear to have mingled relatively little.
The theaters moved up to where Broadway crossed Sixth Avenue, known as Herald Square, and continued onward; by 1893, Oscar Hammerstein, a cigar magnate, had built a great ocean liner of a theater in the prodigious gloom of 44th Street, just beyond the point where Broadway crossed Seventh Avenue.
View of a crowd gathered at Times Square in 1944. |
Times Square was the pool into which this vast new life emptied. The rich man went to the “lobster palaces” and the arch revues staged in the roof gardens, while the poor man paid a quarter to hear an immigrant like himself belting out a ballad in a vaudeville show.
At a time when new institutions like the department store and the office building were throwing men and women, rich and poor together as never before, Times Square was the ultimate leveler. And as we know from students of culture like Lewis Erenberg and Ann Douglas, this mixing and leveling gave a democratic, hybridized charge to music and dance and theater; the jeunesse doree of Fifth Avenue swung their hips and shoulders to ragtime dances that had bubbled up out of black culture.
And traffic. Times Square was not a “square,” a place carved out of the urban fabric, but the fabric itself, a gorge that traffic squeezed through in a great rush before disappearing out the other side. It was the city into its pure state, nature having been obliterated down to the last blade of grass. The Times Square character lived and died inside an asphalt triangle. Times Square gave birth to a race of men – and some women – for whom nature, and “naturalness,” was a con, and the only real life was the one made by men in buildings.
Times Square came increasingly to feel like a village, intricate and inbred, furnished with a complete set of folkways, mannerisms and habits of speech. We miss it now, of course – not the characters themselves but the sense of mythological possibility. Bulldozers chased the ghosts out of Times Square; or rather pornographers and drug dealers and loony street people chased them out first, and then the bulldozers cleaned up the mess.
The New Amsterdam Theater |
But whenever I despair, I remind myself that Times Square has had many incarnations over the last century; this one doesn’t have to be the last. Perhaps when the new paint starts to chip, even this Times Square will gain some power over our imagination.
James Traub is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and author of “The Devil’s Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square.”
This article is excerpted from the spring 2004 issue of “The New-York Journal of American History, “ the semiannual publication of the New-York Historical Society.
The centennial of the General Slocum disaster provides an opportunity to ask a probing question: how did a disaster which claimed the lives of 1,021 people in the nation's largest metropolis become an all-but-forgotten footnote to history? By far the nation's most deadly peacetime maritime disaster, it was also New York's deadliest day before September 11, 2001. Yet whenever I asked anyone to name Gotham's worst calamity, I invariably got the same answer: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. That tragedy actually claimed far fewer lives (146) than the Slocum.
The story of the General Slocum tragedy begins in the thriving German neighborhood known as Kleindeutschland, or Little Germany, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. One of its sanctuaries, St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on East 6th Street, held an annual outing to celebrate the end of the Sunday school year. The congregants usually chartered an excursion boat.
Wednesday, June 15, 1904, the day of the outing, dawned a beautiful spring morning. Shortly before 10 a.m., the General Slocum pulled away from its pier. It chugged up the East River, gradually increasing speed. Hundreds of children jammed the upper deck. The adults socialized while a band played German favorites
Then disaster struck. As the ship passed East 90th Street, smoke started billowing from a forward storage room. A spark, most likely from a carelessly tossed match, had ignited a barrel of straw. By the time crewmen notified Captain William Van Schaick – fully 10 minutes after discovering the fire – the blaze raged out of control.
The captain looked to the piers along the East River but feared he might touch off an explosion among the many oil tanks there. Instead, he opted to proceed at top speed to North Brother Island, a mile ahead.
The increased speed fanned the flames. Passengers began to jump overboard. Most did not know how to swim and drowned. The inexperienced crew provided no help. Neither did the life jackets, which were rotten and filled with disintegrated cork. Those who put them on sank as soon as they hit the water. Wired in place, none of the lifeboats could be dislodged.
When the boat finally beached at North Brother Island, it was almost completely engulfed in fire. The General Slocum left a grisly wake. The boats that followed it plucked a few survivors from the water but found mostly the lifeless bodies of the ill-fated passengers. The fact that they were young children only added to the horror. Rescue workers wept openly. When they finished counting the bodies, the death toll stood at 1,021.
The tragedy provoked widespread outrage, as survivors told of incompetent crewmen, useless fire hose and rotten life preserves, while questioning why the captain took so long to bring the steamer ashore.
Seven years later, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory burned and replaced the Slocum as the city’s great fire. Both fires killed mostly female immigrants, and aroused public wrath over callous corporate negligence. But the Triangle fire supplanted the Slocum tragedy in New York’s memory, even with its 85 percent lower death toll. Why?
First, the Triangle fire occurred during a time of intense labor struggle. Only a year earlier, tens of thousands of shirtwaist makers had staged a strike for better wages, hours and conditions. When 146 of them lay dead, there was no question as to who was to blame. This conclusion was reinforced when the public learned that the factory owners had locked the exits to keep the women at their machines.
Additionally, the Slocum tragedy was a “concentrated tragedy.” The majority of those killed were from a single parish and living within a 40-block area. Although their fellow New Yorkers were horrified by the tragedy, only a few were directly affected.
World War I also contributed to the forgetting process. Anti-German sentiment eradicated sympathy for anything German, including innocent victims of the General Slocum fire.
Finally, we must consider Gotham’s relentless pursuit of all that is new. “The present in New York is so powerful,” writer John Jay Chapman noted, “that the past is lost.” Indeed, within the city’s four centuries of history, only a handful of traumatic events are well known, chief among them the Draft Riots of 1863 and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Perhaps, then, the real question is not why the Slocum fire is so little known but why the Triangle fire has been raised to such mythical status.
Whatever the explanation, the General Slocum never disappeared entirely. In 1922, the story achieved a bit of immortality when James Joyce included a half-page reference to it in his monumental work, Ulysses. In 1934, the Slocum gained a different sort of immortality in the film Manhattan Melodrama. It opens with a stunning re-enactment of the fire as a set-up for a story about two orphaned boys. In 1954, the New-York Historical Society mounted a small 50th-anniversary exhibit about the Slocum fire.
It was the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, that brought a renewed interest in the Slocum tragedy. Although one event was a willful act of destruction and murder and the other a tragedy born of negligence, greed and bad luck, there are many parallels. The most obvious was the profound shock and horror felt by the people of New York.
Another parallel was the selfless heroism exhibited by both uniformed personnel and everyday people on the scenes. Although no rescuers died in the Slocum fire, many risked their lives so that others might live.
A final parallel concerns the effort to build fitting memorials to the victims. Behind these initiatives lies a three-fold goal: to honor the dead, to provide the living with a place of contemplation and to ensure that society never forgets what happened.
Yet, the actual memory of traumatic events like the Slocum fire lives on only in the hearts and minds of those who experienced them. The only real memory of the Slocum fire died with the last living survivor. It will exist for succeeding generations, not as a memory but as a cautionary tale of greed and carelessness and a story of unspeakable loss and extraordinary courage.
Edward T. O’Donnell, associate professor of history at the college of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, is the author of “Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum.”
This article is excerpted from the spring 2004 issue of “The New-York Journal of American History,” the semiannual publication of the New-York Historical Society.