Gotham Gazette

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Open Government

Governor George Pataki's 2004 State of the State Address


Chief Judge Kaye, honorable members of the Court of Appeals, Lieutenant Governor Donohue, Attorney General Spitzer, Comptroller Hevesi, Majority Leader Bruno, Speaker Silver, Leader Nesbitt, Leader Paterson, respected members of the Legislature, distinguished guests...

It's an honor to stand before you in this majestic chamber, the seat of New York's democracy. Each of us has taken a solemn oath to uphold this democracy and has the privilege of serving the most courageous people and the greatest state in the nation.

It's exciting to be here today to deliver my 10th State of the State address. For those of you who have sat through the previous 9 hours and 46 minutes of my State of the State speeches, you know they tend to be long. I just want to make sure everyone is comfortable in their seats - Eliot, Alan, Senator Balboni, Secretary Daniels - is everyone comfortable? Because I may be here longer than you think.

We're joined by a great New Yorker and good friend who addressed the opening session of the Legislature eight times as New York's Governor. Governor Carey, on behalf of everyone in this chamber, I want to thank you for being here today as we work to build on your proud legacy.

Libby, Mom, Allison, thank you for being here with me today and everyday.

As we look towards a new year with hope, let us remember the good friends we lost this past year.

The Catskills couldn't have had a more dedicated public servant than Assemblyman Jake Gunther. He was a friend and trusted colleague to us all, and he will be sorely missed. His widow, Aileen, is Jake's successor. Aileen, I want you to know that we all share your loss.

Just last week, we were all shocked to hear that Dick Miller passed away. Dick was loved in Binghamton, and here in Albany. We'll miss him dearly.

And all of us who work in the Capitol will never forget Trooper Bill Dooley. He was, quite simply, everyone's friend - a wonderful, funny, intelligent, outgoing man whose presence in our Capitol made us proud.

Let us bow our heads for a moment of silence in memory of these three friends and great public servants.

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Let us also remember the brave New Yorkers who made the supreme sacrifice for their nation and its people this past year:

The police officers and firefighters who laid down their lives to protect New Yorkers from harm...

And the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines we lost in the fight for freedom abroad...

We owe them and their families a debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid.

These brave men and women fought and died for the source of our unity, the bedrock of our democracy and the promise of our future. They fought and died for our freedom.

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Today, with our nation engaged in a War on Terror, both here at home and abroad, it is appropriate that we reflect on that concept of freedom.

Like all of you, I learned about freedom from my parents and teachers. But I also watched it unfold from a farmhouse in Peekskill. For it was there that I sat with my grandparents watching as the streets of their native Hungary blazed with revolution. On that day, my father told me freedom was worth dying for.

Later, we would witness and become part of a new fight for freedom. Only this battle wasn't being fought in a far away country accessible only by television. No, this battle was being waged right here on the streets of New York, and not by brave strangers but by our own friends and neighbors.

Today's children - our children and grandchildren - are part of a new era of freedom. Years from now, they will mark September 11, 2001 as a turning point for humankind - a date when those who believe in fear were overcome by those who believe in freedom.

One of those children -- nine-year-old Jessica Hefferon of Appleton in Niagara County -- understands these lessons well. Jessica wrote the winning essay for a national contest of the Weekly Reader. "Freedom," she wrote, "is great to have, so I think we should try and share it with people who don't have the freedom that we have in our country."

That is, of course, what America has always sought to do - bring the blessings of freedom to oppressed people throughout the world.

She went on to write that "Being free means that you can make your own choices in life." Her words remind us that freedom is ultimately a simple principle, one that we sometimes take for granted. They remind us, also, of our solemn obligation to enhance these precious freedoms...

The freedom to live in safety and security...

The freedom to find a good job and build a strong family...

The freedom to live, breathe and dream in a clean and healthy environment...

The freedom that comes with knowledge and a quality education...

...And the freedom to persevere over adversity.

Today, I will ask you to join me in setting ambitious goals for New York's future that strengthen these freedoms. And if they sound too ambitious, remember that in each case, we've done it before, which means we can do it again.

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Together, we've led the nation in fighting crime, and today New York is the safest large state in America. Let's pledge action so that in five years we will be the safest of any state in America. Today, I will outline a series of administrative and legislative actions to meet that goal.

Together, we helped create almost 500,000 new jobs since 1995. Let's work together to create one million new jobs by the end of this decade. Today, I will outline a detailed economic plan, which includes Phase II of our nationally-recognized high tech efforts, that will help to get us there.

Together, we've led the nation in our commitment to clean air and water. Let's be the nation's leader in clean and renewable energy technologies, and preserving open space. Today, I will advance a new environmental agenda to achieve both of these goals.

Together, we've made record investments in education. Let's work together and seize an historic opportunity to reform our education system so it's the best in the nation. Today, I will outline the guiding principles to lead us there.

And together, we can pay further tribute to those we lost on one of the darkest days in our nation's history. Today, I will update our timeline for revitalizing Lower Manhattan so that the heroes we lost are never forgotten.

To achieve these bold initiatives and new goals, I will ask you to join me in taking action on the 45 specific measures I outline today - some new, others long overdue - that will allow us to build upon our past success and ensure that New York is not only the world's greatest symbol of freedom - but its greatest example.

It is an aggressive, detailed and bold agenda that will require each of us to cast aside the petty divisions that often distract us from realizing our goals.

We've done it before. We can do it again.

And in doing so, we will pay tribute to the principle that unites each and every New Yorker - our deep and unequivocal love of freedom...

...the freedom Jessica so ably described in her essay.

Jessica is joined by her little brother Brian, her Mom, Tobi and her Dad, Major Steve Hefferon, a Squadron Commander in New York's Air National Guard...

Major, thank you for your service -- and Jessica thank you for your beautiful words, and for being here.

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We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Steve and all of the men and women of New York's National Guard.

I have regularly called upon the Guard over the past nine years in times of crisis - the attack on the World Trade Center... eight natural disasters... four plane crashes... eleven crippling blizzards... two major wildfires, a statewide blackout... and now of course... the threat of global terror.

In each case, the Guard responded quickly and heroically, and they've met every mission asked of them to protect our State and our nation.

And today, 3,400 guardsmen are serving across the globe, from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Canadian border and Grand Central Station.

The New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing, based in Westhampton, Long Island, has just returned from deployment in Iraq.

Most of us sadly recall hearing the news on November 2nd that a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter had been shot down outside the city of Falluja in Iraq, killing 16 soldiers.

On that tragic day, members of the 106th proved why they are considered among the very best at what they do.

Within minutes, helicopter crews from the 106th arrived at the site and rescued survivors from the smoldering wreckage.

Four of the heroes who took part in that rescue are here today. Your actions are a great credit to our country, and a great source of pride to the people of New York State.

...Lieutenant Colonel Graham Buschor
...Senior Master Sergeant Robert Marks
...Staff Sergeant Erik Blom
...Technical Sergeant Arthur Kakis

On behalf of a grateful State, thank you.

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The Guard's support for New Yorkers is strong and unconditional. Our support for them must be the same. Last year, we passed the Patriot Plan -- the most comprehensive package of new benefits and protections in the nation to support New York's citizen soldiers and their families when they are called to active duty.

This year, I ask you to strengthen the Patriot Plan. Let's exempt our military Guard's pay from state taxes. Let's help local governments deal with the absence of these men and women, many of whom are public servants, until they get back. And my budget will increase the active duty pay for our troops on the front lines of the war on terror.

In a salute to freedom and those who defend it, let's pass a Patriot Plan II this year.

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The freedom the men and women in our armed forces are fighting for is more than a birthright. It is a gift that each generation must, in some way, fight to preserve for the next.

During our nation's history, that has meant sending our sons and daughters off to war - in France and Germany, Korea and Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Today, however, we live in a world where the enemies of freedom have no homeland from which to wage that war. So they wage their war against freedom in the form of terror. They wage it against America, the greatest bastion of freedom, and New York, its greatest symbol.

We know what they are capable of, we know that New York will always be a target of their evil, and we know that nothing is more important than preventing them from striking again.

As New Yorkers we are fortunate to have leaders with the courage to confront this threat with force.

On behalf of the people of New York, I want to thank President Bush for his strong support of our security efforts, and commend him for his determination to take this war to the spider holes of Tikrit and away from our city streets.

We have another leader here with us today who has shown defiance against threats of terror. Mayor Bloomberg, New York and America watched with pride as you made Times Square the safest place in the world on New Year's Eve. Congratulations and thank you.

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Shortly after the September 11th attacks, I assembled a team of the top law enforcement officials in America.

That team was the foundation for New York's Office of Public Security (OPS).

Today, New York's Office of Public Security is the best in the nation... And it has to be, because New York embodies the very principles of freedom the terrorists despise.

OPS' first priority was -- and still is -- to enlist the eyes, ears and experience of every law enforcement official in New York State in the fight against terror.

We began by creating 16 Counter Terrorism Zones, utilizing a secure network to keep tens of thousands of law enforcement officials advised of the latest threat information.

We've assigned more troopers than ever to protect New York's borders, its points of entry and transit hubs.

We've provided almost $160 million in equipment and direct funding to local governments.

We've deployed some 150 Weapons of Mass Destruction response units across the State - at least one in every county. These units include everything from individual protective equipment to state-of-the-art chemical, biological and radiological detection equipment.

I'm proud to report that the United States Department of Homeland Security has just designated New York's Cyber Security Office as the national information sharing center. Today, we are providing protection from terror, not just for New York, but for the entire nation.

We've accomplished much, but we live in a new era of danger.

We must confront that danger with firmness and resolve.

As we gather here together under the sober reality of Orange Alert, let us pledge a new era of public security.

Today, I ask you to reinforce the strong steps we've taken with new legislation...

...Less than a week after the September 11th attacks, you and I passed a strong Anti-Terrorism law.

I applaud you for taking such swift action.

This year, I ask you to strengthen it with legislation I proposed jointly with Attorney General Spitzer.

This critical legislation gives prosecutors and police the tools they need to detect, prevent and punish terrorists.

Our proposal provides severe punishment for those who possess or use chemical or biological weapons.

It cracks down hard on money laundering operations that are used to support terrorism.

And it will empower our 75,000 state and local law enforcement officials with the same investigatory powers given to their federal counterparts.

This is the single most important piece of legislation you will consider this year. New York has waited too long. I urge its swift passage.

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And as we fight to protect our freedoms from the threat of terror, we must continue to fight for our most basic freedom of all - the freedom to walk on the streets of New York with confidence, and without fear.

It doesn't matter where in America you live -- if it's in a community where gangs rule the schoolyards, drug dealers own the playgrounds and violent criminals control the streets, you're not truly free.

That was the New York we inherited nine years ago. But it is not the New York we will leave to our children.

Stronger, smarter, tougher laws reduce crime. It's that simple.

Over the past nine years, you and I have passed more than 100 tough new anti-crime laws. Those laws have helped to reduce murders in New York by 56 percent and the overall rate of violent crime by 49 percent - more than any other state in the nation.

We are the safest large state in America.

Let's pledge, over the next five years, to make New York the safest of any state in America.

To achieve this goal we will need both administrative and legislative actions.

First, we will strategically target areas in the State where crime is disproportionately high.

This year we will aggressively target communities within the 15 counties that account for 80 percent of all crime outside of New York City.

Operation IMPACT, or Integrated Municipal Police Anti-Crime Teams, will draw upon all of our State criminal justice resources and consist of over 300 State Police officers.

IMPACT Units will be mobilized at the request of local officials and will work with local police and community leaders to combat crime on an unprecedented scale.

Operation IMPACT will use crime mapping technology to track crime hotspots, bringing the full force of State and local law enforcement to bear on the most crime-plagued areas of our State.

Operation IMPACT will save lives.

Second, through eJusticeNY, we will give police officers instantaneous information on any criminal in New York. If a police officer in Buffalo is holding a criminal wanted in the Bronx, he should have every piece of information he needs to arrest that criminal on the spot.

By the end of this year, 90 percent of New York's police agencies will be linked to eJusticeNY.

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These measures will save lives. But we can save even more if you pass additional common sense crime-fighting pieces of legislation.

Let's pass a law that will allow us to collect DNA from all convicted criminals.

And let's end the statute of limitations for rape, sexual assault, and other serious violent felonies this year.

Let's end parole for all felons.

Let's give police and prosecutors the laws they need to take those who use, sell or possess illegal guns off our streets.

Let's aggressively fight domestic violence by strengthening our laws against those who terrorize their spouses, partners, or children.

We must pass a law to guarantee that violent felons who murder a child in the course of committing a crime spend the rest of their lives in prison.

We must ensure that sexually violent criminals who still pose a threat to society are not released into our communities.

Let's strengthen Megan's Law to provide the public with additional information and impose penalties on sex offenders who fail to comply.

We need a gang sexual assault bill to prosecute these despicable crimes as felonies.

We can prevent needless tragedies on our roadways by passing the Pena-Herrera DWI legislation.

Let's lock up chronic misdemeanor offenders and stop career criminals.

Let's severely punish those who violate the trust placed in them by endangering a child in their care.

And let's agree to strengthen our laws against criminals involved in child pornography.

We must help keep our schools, college campuses and day care facilities safe by imposing tough new penalties for crimes committed on school grounds.

Let's pass a law so those who commit an assault are punished more severely if their victim dies or is seriously injured.

Let's pass my Criminal Procedure Law Reform package to get rid of the absurd technicalities that too often let criminals go free and deny justice to their victims.

And finally, let's launch a new effort to put an end to the needless tragedies we read about all too often. Let's enact new measures to rid our streets of deadly drivers. I will send you a five point plan to do just that.

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More than six decades ago, in his famous Four Freedoms speech, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke about Americans' right to the freedom from fear. While he was speaking about the unfolding events of the war, freedom from fear begins at home with government's obligation to protect its citizens from crime and violence.

No piece of legislation that passes through this chamber is more important than one which saves lives.

These are common sense bills that have broad support, and will save lives.

Pass them and New York will become the safest state in the nation.

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A family feels a greater sense of freedom when it has the security of a good-paying job. That's why building a strong economic climate that creates good jobs is one of our highest priorities.

We've worked hard to do that, and we've done well.

Over the last nine years, we've cut billions of dollars in taxes, kept spending growth below the national average, streamlined government bureaucracy, enacted sweeping debt reform, and eliminated burdensome regulations that stifle economic growth.

However, we all know that the combined impact of September 11th, the national recession and the upheaval in our financial services industry presented our State with tremendous fiscal challenges -- challenges that still must be overcome.

This isn't the first time New York faced tough economic times. The previous national recession - over a decade ago - was four times longer and six times more severe here in New York than in the rest of the nation. We lost more than 500,000 jobs - because the State simply was not prepared to compete.

In less than two weeks, I will address you again, and present my Executive Budget. I will urge you to work with me to put these fiscal challenges behind us once and for all, by restraining spending and budgeting responsibly.

I am pleased that both Senator Bruno and Speaker Silver have said they don't think New Yorkers' taxes should be raised this year. Obviously, I agree.

The tax cuts we've passed have helped to create nearly a half million new jobs and made New York the place to do business again.

Today, the Empire State's economy is fundamentally stronger and holds the promise of a better future because of the steps we've taken. Today, we are ready to compete.

New York City's recovery is beginning to take hold as the recent sharp decline in the City's unemployment rate demonstrates. And over the last year outside of New York City, we had job growth of over 12,000 private sector jobs while the rest of the nation had job losses of over 160,000.

Despite all the challenges, we have reason for optimism because our tax cuts, regulatory reforms and investments in job-creating programs like Empire Zones and high-tech initiatives have laid a solid foundation for our success in the global economy.

...A recent study ranked Rochester as one of the top knowledge-based economic regions in the world...

...many small to medium sized companies in information-intensive industries have been created throughout Long Island...

...the nation's newest chip-fab plant has been built in the Hudson Valley...

...Glens Falls grew at a faster rate this year than all but one city in the nation...

...and, as we announced two weeks ago, GEICO has decided to bring 2,500 jobs to Western New York when they could have gone anywhere in the country...

This gives me confidence that as we come out of recession, we are poised for success.

That's why today I present a challenge. Let's work together and commit to this: by the end of this decade we will have one million more private sector jobs than we do now. It is an ambitious goal. But if we do our part that goal is well within our reach.

As one example of why it is within our reach, I am pleased to announce that BassPro has formally indicated its desire to locate a multi-million dollar flagship center in downtown Buffalo. This new BassPro project will bring in hundreds of jobs and thousands of visitors to Buffalo.

I look forward to working with Senator Bruno, Speaker Silver, the Western New York delegation, County Executive Giambra, Mayor Masiello and Congressman Jack Quinn in taking the necessary steps to make this critical downtown Buffalo economic development project a reality.

In the weeks ahead, let us work together to build additional partnerships to move forward on other key projects...

Let's work with County Executive Maggie Brooks to make the downtown Renaissance Center a reality for Rochester;

Let's work with County Executive Nick Pirro and Mayor Matt Driscoll to bring Destiny to Syracuse;

Let's work with Mayor Jerry Jennings to make sure the nation's greatest state capital gets a new convention center.

And in the North Country, let's modernize the convention center to continue Lake Placid's standing as the number one winter resort in the East.

And let's once again extend our hand of cooperation to the Mayor of the world's greatest city and work with Mike Bloomberg to build on the success of our AirTrain project and develop a new job hub at Jamaica station. At the same time, we'll work with the Mayor to redevelop our valuable waterfronts in each borough... build a true convention center at Javits... transform the West Side, and bring the world to our door by hosting the 2012 Olympics in New York City.

Every community in our State has great potential for economic growth.

To meet that potential, let's build on what we know works.

Empire Zones are one of our greatest economic development tools. They've helped New York State jump from 25th to our current 3rd in the nation in attracting new facilities and investment.

Today, I am announcing new Empire Zone legislation that builds on our success while making the program stronger. This legislation will improve accountability, focus benefits to communities and neighborhoods that need it most, and provide flexibility to target projects with large job creation potential - all while preserving local decision-making authority.

Let's work together and pass this legislation this session.

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While we work to strengthen our Empire Zones, let's also reaffirm our commitment to our State's manufacturers.

Today, I am announcing a five-point plan to do just that.

I am directing the Department of Labor to create new targeted job-training assistance programs to ensure our manufacturers have the most skilled and most productive workforce in the nation.

I am also directing the Empire State Development Corporation to create a new Manufacturing Assistance Program, or MAP, that will coordinate Federal, State and local assistance programs and will link manufacturing companies to the appropriate research and development grant funding.

Three parts of the plan to help manufacturers in New York will require us to pass new laws.

Let's help New York-based companies better compete and encourage others to locate here by phasing-in reforms of the State's tax law to benefit firms that have a majority of their jobs, factories and capital investments in New York.

We must improve our Power for Jobs program to continue providing low-cost power to our State's manufacturers.

And we must build on our past successes and further reform workers' compensation.

In the coming weeks, I will be submitting legislation to make this plan a reality. Let's pass it quickly.

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Two years ago we embarked on an unprecedented endeavor to transform the State's economy through our Centers of Excellence program. Our efforts have launched New York State into the forefront of high technology across the nation. The Empire State High Tech Corridor, stretching from Buffalo to Albany, through the Hudson Valley, into New York City and out to Long Island, is the backbone of our transition to a high tech global economy.

Our investments in the Centers of Excellence program are paying off with new jobs and new attention from companies around the globe. These investments are complemented by investments through the Senate's Gen*NY*sis plan and the Assembly's RESTORE program.

Senator Bruno, Speaker Silver, as we proved with SEMATECH, working together we can out-compete anyone in the world.

States across the country have awoken to our success. A front page article in the Austin American-Statesman said: "Albany's early success has set off alarms in Texas, nowhere more than in Austin. Upstate New York is a direct threat to Austin's standing as a top-tier semiconductor research and manufacturing center."

We've set off the alarms, now it's time to feed the fire.

Today, I'm pleased to announce Phase II of our high-tech strategy that will do just that.

Our Centers of Excellence program has established powerful partnerships between State government, the private sector, and our top flight universities and research institutions. To further enhance these partnerships, this year I will establish a High Tech Council comprised of academic and business leaders. I am pleased to announce that Dr. Harold Varmus, a Nobel Prize winner, former Director of the National Institutes of Health and President and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has agreed to chair the council.

Second, let's help our promising biotech companies flourish. To grow, New York's biotech industry requires access to capital, and particularly in New York City, Westchester and Long Island, access to facilities.

Our investments in biotech at the University of Rochester have proven enormously successful. This year, my budget will provide funds for critical wet-lab facilities, making institutions in places like Farmingdale, North Shore, Stony Brook, New York City and Rochester eligible to advance their biotechnology research, development and commercialization efforts.

Because biotech is a research-intensive business, many small biotech companies make huge investments and have significant losses that often take many years to recoup. My budget will provide a new tax benefit so that these entrepreneurs can access new capital and create more jobs.

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Governor George Pataki's 2004 State Of The State Address


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And finally, let's build on our existing Centers of Excellence as we enhance our high tech efforts across the State.

In Utica-Rome, let's build on our efforts in cyber-security.

In Binghamton, let's create a High Technology Commercialization Center that will transfer ideas from our Centers to the marketplace.

In Albany, at our Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, we will work with the University at Albany to create a new College of Nanotechnology -- the first of its kind in the country -- to provide our industry with the high quality workforce it needs to grow in New York State.

A number of years ago we advanced a State policy to relocate state government employees to the center of our cities. We have brought workers to downtown Troy, Schenectady, and Albany, to help reinvigorate our cities and in the process we are freeing up the Harriman Campus. This year, we will create a Harriman Campus Development Corporation to bring new high tech companies to Albany and to provide space for Center spin-offs.

I am pleased to announce this corporation will be chaired by someone who has served the Capital Region with great skill and expertise. John Egan, thank you for your continued service.

Today I am announcing we are expanding the core mission of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems in Syracuse to include research and development in renewable and clean energy sources.

By reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources we can not only stop sending our energy dollars to unstable parts of the world, but we can become a world leader in clean energy technologies, from wind and solar power to geothermal and fuel cells.

The worldwide market for clean energy technologies is expected to grow to nearly $100 billion dollars a year over the next ten years. I want New York companies to be the major beneficiaries of this emerging market.

The Syracuse Center, in partnership with Cornell University, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, NYSERDA and the private sector, will position New York at the forefront of this new market.

And, a strong New York biofuel industry will create new markets and opportunities for our farmers, help clean the air and water, and keep our energy dollars here at home.

That's why I'm directing NYSERDA to create a similar partnership with the Syracuse Center of Excellence to make New York's bio-fuels industry one of the strongest in the nation.

In addition to becoming the center of clean energy research, the Syracuse Center will also be a model for future urban development. I'm pleased to announce that, working with University and local government officials, we will locate this new facility downtown, on a brownfield, at the site of the old Smith-Corona building.

We will reclaim the blight and replace it with a new, green building that will be the genesis for new ideas and will bolster our efforts to bring new life to downtown Syracuse.

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That is exactly the type of program Lieutenant Governor Mary Donohue's Quality Communities Task Force envisioned - revitalizing urban areas through smart growth, turning empty lots into new buildings and new job opportunities. The Lieutenant Governor's task force provided us with numerous specific recommendations, 16 of which we've already adopted. Actions like this will make the Quality Communities initiative a national model as well.

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Our environment, like our freedom, is inherited from our ancestors and borrowed from our children. Both are given to us in the trust that they will be preserved and improved for the next generation.

Together, we've worked hard to live up to that trust.

Theodore Roosevelt once observed that "The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value."

Over the last nine years we have made remarkable progress in realizing an environmental vision that would make T.R. proud.

We greatly enhanced the Environmental Protection Fund, put record numbers of clean fuel buses on our streets, enacted the toughest acid rain regulations in the nation, and last year we passed historic Superfund Brownfield legislation.

Two years ago, I announced an ambitious ten year goal to protect one million acres of land.

We're more than on track to meet our goal.

I'm proud to announce that, with the purchase of development rights on 6,000 acres of active farmland, we have now protected more than 500,000 acres.

Every child, regardless of where they live deserves clean air, clean water, and pristine open space. Our programs are guaranteeing that.

Today, I am announcing a new urban forestry initiative that partners DEC and NYSERDA with local communities to plant thousands of trees throughout our urban neighborhoods and parks to save energy, create habitat, raise property values, and improve the quality of life for urban residents across the State.

In 1996, using the resources of the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act, we set a goal to convert all of the State's public school furnaces from coal to clean burning sources of energy. That goal has been met.

Now let's set another goal: that every new public school bus that operates in New York will run on clean fuel. This will require legislation. Let's work together to pass it this year.

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Since 1995, we've created 18 new State parks from Woodlawn Beach to Brooklyn Bridge to Camp Hero in Montauk.

In the next two years, five new State parks will be opening, including prime waterfront parcels on Long Island Sound and the Great Lakes, and in rural and Central New York.

And today, I commit over the next five years that we will open or expand 20 more State parks, including additional sites on Long Island.

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Working together we have made the Hudson River cleaner than it's been in generations. Water quality has improved and old industrial sites are being reclaimed.

The Hudson River Valley Greenway is thriving.

Before I took office only eight communities had joined the Greenway. Today, the Greenway has reached its 201st community. It is a model of state government offering guidance, expertise, and assistance to local communities so they can shape their own future.

But a momentous event in the history of the Hudson lies before us. In just five years we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's first voyage up the river that would later become America's first great corridor of trade and transport.

We must act so that this 400th anniversary celebration will be held along a river that is healthier in every way than it was when it was handed to our generation.

Let's make it our objective to ensure that by the year 2009, the Hudson River will be swimmable from its source high in the Adirondack Mountains all the way to New York City.

But the health of a river cannot be measured by water quality alone. We must also ensure that the communities along the river have riverfront access and are healthy and vibrant.

We will ensure that every community along the Hudson has at least one new or upgraded access point to the River.

By 2009 we can transform the waterfront of the Hudson River into a series of world class destinations for business, culture, tourism, and research. By the 400th anniversary of Hudson's voyage, we will ensure that Hudson himself would recognize the river's original beauty while the vitality of the riverside communities will surpass anything he could have imagined.

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And building on our successful efforts to revitalize Niagara Falls and its park land, and by working with the western New York delegation, let us create a Niagara River Greenway that stretches from Buffalo to Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario.

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Because you and I have consistently united behind the goal of enhancing our natural resources, our children and their children will have the freedom to grow in a cleaner and healthier environment...

...And because we have consistently come together to improve New York's health care system, they can walk confidently into a brighter and healthier future.

Today in New York, hundreds of thousands of children get routine check-ups, immunizations and hospital coverage when they are ill or injured through Child Health Plus.

Women are ensured appropriate diagnosis, treatment and insurance coverage when facing breast cancer.

And, tens of thousands of lower-income workers receive the health care coverage they need to build their careers and support their families.

This month, a new initiative targeted specifically to Hispanic New Yorkers stressing the importance of cancer screening and prevention will begin. And, long before Washington acted, we helped more than 325,000 seniors afford the medicines they need to live longer, healthier and productive lives.

This year, let's do more.

Let's enhance long term care for our seniors. I will propose comprehensive reforms of our long-term care system.

These efforts will provide the services that help the elderly stay in their own homes - where they've lived their lives, raised their children and built their memories. And, for those that need a more intensive level of care, we will promote a variety of options - from assisted living to state-of-the-art nursing homes.

While Medicaid has played an important role in our achievements, we are now faced with a Medicaid program that is quickly outstripping our ability to afford it.

Clearly, we need to improve the Medicaid system. We must start by providing our growing population of aging citizens with the quality healthcare they need while preserving the system for their children and grandchildren.

And we must address Medicaid costs borne by local governments. Senator Bruno has already identified this as an important issue. Senator, I commend your initiative. Let's work together to reduce state and local Medicaid expenses this year and begin to reverse the costs that have squeezed the finances of so many county governments.

Knowledge fosters freedom. And education illuminates the path to that freedom.

Together we have made great strides. We have created innovative programs and initiatives like Project SAVE to enhance safety in our schools, Advantage After-School programs and charter schools. And we created the STAR program to help homeowners, particularly seniors, with the burden of school property taxes. We have invested in school facilities and enacted historic school governance reform with Mayor Bloomberg, to provide him with accountability for New York City's schools.

We have invested record resources, increasing state support for education. This year, schools receive $4.7 billion more than they did when I took office. New York City alone receives $2.1 billion more. No other state in the nation spends more per student than New York.

In 2001, though, I stood before you and called our school finance system a dinosaur. I said we should scrap it altogether and create a new school aid formula that is fair, simple and sustainable.

This year we are presented with an historic opportunity to answer that call and, indeed, we must do so by July 30th. To assist in this effort, we have assembled a group of our most capable, talented and creative minds from across the State.

This Commission on Education Reform will develop sweeping changes so that all our children have the opportunity to receive the first-class education they need to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

We are fortunate to be able to call upon Frank Zarb to chair this Commission, a man who is uniquely qualified to lead us in this effort, having served five Presidents and as Chair of the Nassau Interim Finance and the Long Island Power Authorities.

And as we work together, rising to meet this historic challenge, there are a series of guiding principles that are critical for us all:

First, we must finally throw out our archaic system of education finance. This year, let's replace it with a new formula that is fair, sustainable and understandable.

Second, our new education finance system must appropriately focus resources, as they become available, on New York City and our other high need school districts.

Third, our efforts must not pit one family against another in a divisive Robin Hood approach. We can not be taking resources from one school district to meet the needs of another.

Fourth, recognizing the fiscal challenges the State faces this year, working together with each of you, and with educators, parents and community leaders, we need to build consensus on a multi-year commitment of resources that will ensure that our reform effort is sustainable and successful in the years to come.

And finally, New York's new funding system must be linked to reforms in the education system as a whole.

Reform is the key to our effort to provide every child in New York with the best possible education. We cannot simply provide additional resources and maintain business as usual. Rather, we must enact broad based reforms that ensure more of the money we spend on education makes it to the classroom, and that someone is accountable for how it's spent and how it helps our children.

We have been presented with an historic chance to improve our schools and we must put aside our partisan or parochial differences and champion change that will provide the education every New York child deserves.

Every New Yorker can take pride in the fact that we already invest more per student in our public schools than any other state in the country. We already have the most expensive education system in the entire nation - now let's work together to make it the best.

****

There can be no better proof of the power of educational reform than our own SUNY and CUNY systems. When we set about changing CUNY, the naysayers said our reforms would not work. They were wrong.

Today, CUNY enrolls more students than it has in more than 25 years and its minority enrollment is at its highest level in 30 years. SUNY enrollment is at an all time high and its minority enrollment is higher than ever before. And SAT scores have gone up across the board at both SUNY and CUNY.

This year, to continue the renaissance of our higher education systems, I will advance detailed, multi-billion dollar capital plans for SUNY and CUNY, to build state of the art academic facilities and make important repairs to the physical infrastructure.

As part of that effort, I will advance resources so important historic facilities like the HH Richardson Complex in Buffalo and Governors Island in New York City become part of the fabric of our universities, bringing them back to their former splendor. And in Binghamton, I will advance a new academic facility to contribute to the rebirth of the city center, in cooperation with private business.

And for the first time, I will advance a new capital initiative that includes our independent colleges and universities - a critical part of our State's higher education system.

This initiative will enhance our high technology efforts, meet academic infrastructure needs, and advance partnerships in economic development.

We can invest these resources with confidence knowing we have made reforms and those reforms have worked.

****

But reform can't stop with our education system.

We must, this year, enact sweeping and comprehensive reforms to bolster New Yorkers' confidence in all areas of government. Our progress must be forged within the framework of our democracy - upon a strong, open and free system of governance.

This year, I will ask you to work with me to enact the most comprehensive package of reforms to be proposed in Albany in generations - political and governmental reforms, economic reforms, and criminal justice reforms.

Let's adopt reforms throughout all three branches of government and fundamentally change the way business is done in Albany.

Let's give the people of New York a voice in the legislative process with Initiative and Referendum.

Let's give them greater confidence in the political system with campaign finance reform.

And let's give them a wide-ranging budget reform package, that will enable New York to meet its budget deadline.

But we can't stop there.

Let's give local governments relief from the enormous costs of endless, unnecessary and often frivolous litigation.

Let's pass pension reform and binding arbitration reform and Wicks law reform to further ease the financial burden on local governments.

Let's bolster our energy systems by reforming our plant siting laws.

And let's have proportionality in our laws. The Rockefeller Drug Laws allow non-violent drug offenders to be more severely punished than rapists. We need to change that. Let's reform these antiquated laws this year.

Let's make this the most productive legislative session ever.

****

When I addressed you one year ago, I promised that 2003 would be the year of renewal for Lower Manhattan. And I promised that we would never forget the brave heroes we lost on that sacred ground.

Later, I outlined an aggressive timeline to ensure that promise would be kept. Then, we followed it.

We selected a plan for the future World Trade Center that was created by Daniel Libeskind, but shaped by the heartfelt comments of millions of people around the globe. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation launched what became the largest design competition in history to select a memorial, with 5,201 individuals from 61 nations taking part.

We restored a sense of normalcy to the site and its surroundings with new improvements; and we restored the normal commute for thousands of people by resuming PATH service.

To cap off a year of tremendous progress, Mayor Bloomberg and I unveiled the design for the Freedom Tower, the tallest building in the world. When completed, the Freedom Tower will reclaim our skyline with a proud symbol of our nation's resilience and a new beacon of opportunity opposite its inspiration in the harbor.

Now, as we begin a new year, we must look anew at the challenges that still lie ahead in Lower Manhattan, and build on our blueprint to meet them.

I'm pleased to announce that on Thursday, January 22nd, we will unveil Santiago Calatrava's design for the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Akin to Midtown's Grand Central Station, it will serve as a new architectural icon for the ages, born of hope and forged of steel and glass. It will create a new grand civic space for Lower Manhattan, carrying natural light down to the platforms and into a place once made dark by evil.

This new terminal will unite the PATH with pedestrian passageways connecting west to the World Financial Center and east to the MTA's Fulton Street Transit Center.

Later this month, the LMDC, Port Authority and the MTA will announce four options to provide direct access from Lower Manhattan to JFK and Long Island. It is an ambitious project, but one we must pursue if New York City is to join the ranks of Chicago, London and other central business districts that provide direct access to its airports. Over the next four months, the options will be vigorously analyzed. In April, we will announce the selected option, along with a concrete plan to fund it and to build it.

These new initiatives bring us closer to fulfilling a pledge we made while the fires were still burning at ground zero: we will never forget the heroes who died on September 11th.

We must honor their memory in all that we do in Lower Manhattan - not confined to a tract of land or work of art, but throughout the entire 16 acre World Trade Center site as one living memorial. The Freedom Tower will soar to the heavens and recall the loss of our two icons in the sky. The museum will tell the countless individual stories of lives cut short and the unprecedented heroism we witnessed. The performing arts center, the transportation hub, the commercial buildings, will restore culture and commerce - and life - to the site in defiance of terrorism.

And at the centerpiece of this 16 acre memorial will be a special place to remember and reflect on all that we lost, and pay tribute to those we will never forget. Yesterday the jury selected the design, "Reflecting Absence" and soon it will be unveiled. I want to commend the jury for their tremendous dedication to this effort.

In the end we know that there is no right way to remember, only that it is right that we do remember. And in the end, I know that the same spirit, that same love of freedom that united New Yorkers on September 11th and everyday since will prevail.

****

The advancement of freedom is not the sole obligation of the men and women in uniform we have honored here today - who courageously accept sacrifice as part of their oath to uphold the founding principles of our great state and nation.

We are, as Lincoln said, a government "of the people," which means that each American in some way, contributes to our freedom. Some volunteer at blood drives; others coach little league. We do it as representatives of the people, here assembled.

Lincoln, speaking of a great American, said: "He loved his country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity, and glory."

I have laid out a bold agenda for New York's future. Let us honor the trust the public has placed in us by burning with that same zeal for the advancement, prosperity, and glory of this state we love, and are sworn to serve.

Together, let's do our part, and pass on to the next generation, not what we had, but what we truly struggled to achieve.

Thank you. God Bless You. And God Bless New York.

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Garden of Lights



Looking down upon Garden of Lights.


A view from a passage between the two towers' footprints.

In this design, a garden covers the entire memorial site, with 2,982 spaces allowing light into underground rooms below, one for each victim of the 1993 and 2001 attacks. The rooms are located where the towers stood, and contain altars to each one of the victims. The gardens, which are surrounded by glass walls, are open from 8:46am to 10:29am daily. A different gardener is chosen to tend to the gardens each year.

The gardener also tends an orchard between the footprints, which contains trees that give fruit each fall.

Pierre David lives in France and teaches architecture. Sean Corriel is a fifth-year landscape architecture student at Cornell University, and Jessica Kmetovic is a fifth-year architecture student at the California College of Arts and Crafts.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Finalist Statement

"There was a last hour, a last minute, a last second that 2,982 stars went dark. The instant there was this last light there was a first light, 2,982 stars were born. A new constellation expands across the entire site; a new garden expands across the entire site. Time and space slow as the lights from the constellation pass through the garden, through the earth, and create the new constellation below. Above there is the garden, below there is a new sky and 2,982 stars.

The garden of lights links the sky above to the new sky below.

A glass wall surrounds this garden of lights. When it opens everyday from 8:46am to 10:29am it is a breath, a new rhythm for the city. The seed of the garden is the courage of the past. A gardener is invited from a different part of the world each year to nurture this seed. The footprints teem with life, a prairie. Between the footprints the gardener raises an orchard. Each season we walk a new path through the prairie and new seeds grow on the old path. In September the orchard gives fruit, the gift of life nourished by light.

Between the garden above and the new sky below are two rooms the expanse of the footprints. The south room of light is pure light filled with all of the sky above and below. The family moves with their tears in between lights, memory, and life. Leading to the north room of light is an offering path, a stream lined with roses. They give a rose, and the floating petals bring them into the north room of light. A steel wall forged from the salvaged metal of the towers occupies the length of this room. The family passes along its thickness. On the other side of this wall glow 1,275 lights. This is the resting place of the unidentified remains.

Beneath the garden, beneath the rooms of light, we are under the constellation of 2,982 stars that shine down on 2,982 altars. The eight year-old daughter has hand-written the name of her father. Her handwriting is engraved in the alabaster of her father's altar forever. Light shines on each engraved name for eternity. Each visitor has a map of the new constellation and they navigate their path through the stars. The light for those we have lost is with us, at our hands, on our faces. In the distance, the slurry wall accompanies the light down to reveal bedrock. The slurry wall holds the garden, the new sky, and the bedrock below.

In the garden of lights we can look down the path of each light. We see the name inscribed in stone and the light from the shining star. A cloud passes over the city; it is a shadow on the garden, a sparkle in the stars below, a glimmer on the altar, a flicker in the soul."

 

Wireless Goes Indoors


Just as New Yorkers are getting used to the idea that we can check e-mail and surf the Internet for free from Bryant Park, winter storms chased city residents and their laptops indoors until Spring. But, thanks to a number of new wireless technology projects, more and more New Yorkers have wireless access to the Internet for free indoors.

The largest of these projects is run by the New York Public Library. Now, more than 50 branches are offering free wireless Internet access to anyone with a laptop or other wireless device (such as a personal digital assistant). But, the library warns, the network is not secure and staff cannot provide technical assistance.

Community Access, an affordable housing non-profit agency that caters to people with psychiatric disabilities, is trying out another, albeit much smaller project. This month, 45 residents of a Community Access building on Avenue D got a new wireless network.

City Councilmember Margarita Lopez, who represents the East Village, has been a strong advocate for mentally ill New Yorkers. She says of the project, "I have worked with Community Access for over 25 years, and I applaud them for their efforts to give people with low-income access to technology and the advantages that it provides."

The network, which started as an experiment, cost three thousand dollars for equipment and, after months of planning, took only four hours to install with the help of about a dozen NYCwireless volunteers who spent their afternoon in the Avenue D building.

In preparation for the project, Dustin Goodwin and Olivia Given of NYCwireless recruited a team of volunteers who were trained in a three and a half hour session which they paid fifty dollars each to attend. The rationale for charging volunteers for the training session was to find committed, responsible volunteers who can take on additional projects in the future. This group formed the core team that will provide technical support for the Community Access project.

Now, the goal is to provide more computers to the building's residents in the coming months so that they can take advantage of the network. While residents already had one shared computer prior to the installation of the wireless network, there were problems with frequent breakdowns and a lack of technical support. Community Access hopes to get computers for a quarter of the residents through donations over the next six months.

"Technology is the easy part," said Joshua Auerbach, a member of the Community Access Board of Directors and a Vice President at AOL Time Warner. "The human side is much more difficult."

Steve Coe, executive director of Community Access, believes that the project might help residents communicate and build a sense of community as well as gain access to vital job and metal health information online. Until recently, many residents were prevented from working due to financial penalties on their Medicaid benefits. But, now that they can work, they need ways to access job listings, many of which are exclusively posted online.

If this project is successful, it is likely that wireless networks will be installed at other Community Access buildings in the Lower East Side, East Village, Washington Heights and Brooklyn.

Another organization with its eye on providing wireless Internet access is the Lower Eastside Girls Club. "The Girls Club sits right on the edge of the digital divide, between the prosperous areas of the East Village and the housing projects," said David Pentecost, a technology consultant who works with the organization.

The Girls Club is planning to build a new building on Avenue D that will share wireless Internet access with the surrounding community. This project could take years to complete but the hope is that by the time the building is finished, new technologies called mesh networking will make it even easier to share Internet access.

These new wireless projects are a sign of slow but significant change in the non-profit community. Currently, there is more awareness that engineers, architects and technology professionals need to work together to develop affordable housing with advanced technology.Laura Forlano is a doctoral student studying communication technology policy at Columbia University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 Stories of 2003


 

The wider world looked at wars and business scandals and kisses (Adrian Brody and Halle Berry at the Oscars; Madonna and Britney Spears), but New Yorkers' attention in 2003 was focused not just on its own tragedies and scandals but also on a lot of buildings -- shuttered firehouses, new designs for buildings at Ground Zero, a city full of buildings without electricity, what's happening inside the city's school buildings.

Here are the ten top stories in the New York City of 2003, a few more that could have been in the top ten, and then several that were suppose to happen, but didn't.

1. Rebuilding Lower Manhattan

Throughout the year, plans for what would be built at Ground Zero and the rest of Lower Manhattan took shape. And more services returned to the area devastated by the attacks of September 11, 2001. The plans developed so rapidly, with so much debate, controversy and public interest, that rebuilding merits a Top 5 stories of its own. (See box.)

2. The Blackout

On 4:11 p.m. on August 15, lights went out, subways ground to a halt, air conditioners stopped cooling, and computer screens went blank as New York City, along with parts of the Northeast, the Midwest and Canada, experienced the largest blackout in U.S.history. Power would not be completely restored in New York until the next day.

Most New Yorkers took the blackout in stride, directing traffic, offering rides and hanging out on their block. The peaceful response reminded some observers with long memories of the response to the 1965 blackout and presented a sharp contrast to the mayhem that accompanied the outage in 1977. But the blackout still took its toll: Damages were estimated to top $1 billion. Months later, a government panel traced the problem to three transmission lines in Ohio. Their failure, along with computer problems and operator error, triggered a domino effect that left 50 million people without power.

3. Staten Island Ferry Crash

Ten people died and dozens suffered injuries when the Staten Island Ferry crashed while attempting to dock on Staten Island on the afternoon of October 15. Passengers said there was no indication the boat, the Andrew J. Barbieri, was slowing down when it slammed into a concrete pier that ripped through the boat, striking people and sending glass and debris flying. More than two months later, investigators have still not determined the cause of the crash.

4. Remaking the School System

With the public schools firmly under his control, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his school chancellor Joel Klein made sweeping changes to the system in 2003. They:

  • Did away with community school boards.
  • Eliminated community school districts, replacing them with 10 "regions."
  • Established a uniform curriculum for all but the top performing city elementary and middle schools.
  • Set up a parental liaison person in every school.

Rebuilding
Lower Manhattan

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The Freedom Tower

On December 19, Governor George Pataki announced plans for a 1,776-foot Freedom Tower to rise at Ground Zero.

The design capped months of leaks to the press and battles between architects that began last January when the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation selected Daniel Libeskind's design to guide the rebuilding at Ground Zero. It called for the 1,776-foot tower, the tallest building in the world, and a space for a memorial to be sunk 30 feet below street level, exposing a section of the "slurry walls" that kept the Hudson from flooding the area after the collapse of the Twin Towers. But Larry Silverstein, who holds the lease on the site, criticized the design, saying it did not have enough office space and would cost too much to build. He chose his own architect, David Childs, to work with Libeskind. The collaboration quickly turned rocky, with the two men often reportedly refusing to talk to one another.

The Memorial

In November, after months of secret deliberations, a 13-member jury selected eight designs as finalists in the competition for a Ground Zero memorial. Those chosen from 5,201 entries featured a dizzying array of devices for remembering the dead, including hanging candles, engraved walls, beams of light, waterfalls, prairies, trees and photographs. With no design emerging as a clear favorite with the public, the jury is expected to select the winner and two finalists early in 2004.

Moving Downtown

New York State and New York City announced plans for a downtown transportation hub that would include easy access to nine subway lines and the PATH train. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, known for designing train stations in Europe, will design the $2 billion transportation terminal at the World Trade Center site.

Back In Business

Services that were knocked out in the September 11 attacks are gradually being restored to the area. For example, in November, the World Trade Center PATH station reopened. But the new $23 million station is only temporary: Eventually, PATH service will be incorporated into the planned downtown transportation hub. And Con Edison began rebuilding two power substations destroyed on 9/11 and expects them to begin providing electricity to lower Manhattan by next summer.

Health Issues

Concerns over air quality at Ground Zero immediately following the attacks heightened in August when the inspector general of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a report saying that the White House influenced the agency to tell New Yorkers that the air at Ground Zero was fine -- even before the agency had fully monitored the air quality. Soon after, the city health department announced plans for a comprehensive survey to follow the health of those people most directly exposed to the World Trade Center collapse and subsequent clean-up efforts. City health officials say that the registry was not launched in response to the recent accusations.

Two Years After

New York marked the second anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center with a low-key observance aimed primarily at the families of those who died. At the site, children who were relatives of the victims read all 2,792 names.

When the changes were announced last winter, teachers and parents reacted cautiously but optimistically. But by the fall, despite a relatively smooth first few weeks of school, the goodwill had faded. The teacher's union and the mayor seemed virtually at war. Parents and teachers complained that the thorny problem of overcrowding had grown even worse. Parents and community advocates lamented the demise of the community school boards. And administrators griped about chaos and confusion.

5. Shooting at City Hall

New York City Councilmember James E. Davis was shot and killed on July 23 by a gunman who opened fire inside the City Council chambers during the council's regularly scheduled meeting. A police officer then shot and killed the assailant, Othniel Askew, a one-time political rival of Davis's who had accompanied him to City Hall.

Davis, 41, a former police officer and a crusader against violence, was elected to Brooklyn's 35th district council seat in 2001. After his death, the Democratic Party selected his brother, Geoffrey Davis, to run for the post. But Davis was hounded by questions about his past, and on Election Day, was defeated by Letitia James, running on the Working Families Party line. Her election marked the first time a third party candidate had won an election to City Council since the 1970s

6. Fare Hike

The cost of riding subways and buses in New York City rose for the first time since 1995 -- from $1.50 to $2. Not surprisingly New Yorkers grumbled. But they did more than complain. Following up on allegations that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had concealed income and kept two sets of books -- one "real" and one for the public -- transit advocates and public officials took the authority to court. Although, in the end, the effort did not keep the fare from going up, the furor did lead to some reforms at the MTA. But the authority's fiscal woes persist. In December, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi said fares might go up again as early as 2005.

At the same time it raised fares, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority did away with the subway token, a New York City icon for 25 years. Few New Yorkers seemed to care, though the Transit Museum Store continues to sell jewelry bearing the brass coin.

7. A Rebuff for the Mayor

Seven and half million dollars in leaflets and advertising paid for by Mayor Michael Bloomberg failed to convince city voters to get rid of party primaries in city elections. By a margin of about 70 percent to 30 percent, New Yorkers defeated the proposal backed by the mayor and opposed by the Democratic Party and most of organized labor. It would have allowed all voters to cast ballots in non-partisan primaries and created a run-off between the top two vote getters - regardless of party. Two other ballot measures backed by the mayor were also defeated in an election marked by low turnout and the re-election of all City Council incumbents who sought re-election.

8. Brooklyn's Beleaguered Judiciary

The Brooklyn courts continue to be racked by scandal in 2003. Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson was indicted for bribery and on charges that he fixed a divorce case in return for money and gifts. And Justice Reynold Mason was removed from the State Supreme Court for illegally taking money from an escrow account on a rent-controlled apartment in Flatbush, and using the funds to make child support payments and political contributions.

As the charges against individual judges piled up, the spotlight fell on Brooklyn Democratic leader and State Assemblymember Clarence Norman who many suspected of selling judgeships in the country. In November, Norman and the party's executive director, Jeffrey Feldman, were indicted on charges stemming from the investigation. Both plead innocent.

9. Closing the Budget Gap

When budget talks began in January, the city faced facing a $3.8 billion budget gap. But the agreement reached in June between City Council and the mayor on a $43.7 billion city budget for fiscal year 2004 cut relatively few services, with perhaps the most controversial one being the closing of six firehouses. Key to the deal was an increase in income taxes for the wealthy and the sales tax, although the state did not approve a commuter tax as the mayor wanted.

10. A "Sound, Basic Education"

In June, New York's highest court ruled that the state has been shortchanging city schools, failing to provide enough money to give the city's 1.1 million public school students the "sound, basic education" the state constitution guarantees. In her opinion in the case brought by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Chief Judge Judith Kaye rejected the argument that students' backgrounds, not school conditions, are responsible for poor academic performance. She wrote, "We cannot accept the premise that children come to the New York City school uneducable, unfit to learn." The court gave Albany 13 months to come up with a plan to fix the matter.

Governor George Pataki, who had fought the lawsuit for years, appointed a commission on school funding and gave it until March 1, 2004 to make its recommendations. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg attacked the commission, calling it "a cruel hoax." He said the schedules would not work with state and city budgets and criticized the membership of the commission.

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THE NEXT FIVE

In a year with less competition, some of these noteworthy stories would have made the Top 10.

The Split With Albany: - A year ago they seemed the staunchest of political allies with Mayor Bloomberg generously supporting Governor Pataki's re-election bid and the two men going to great lengths to downplay their differences. But as the year wore on the divisions grew, as the officials fought over issues including federal terrorism aide and state help for the city. By August, Jennifer Steinhauer and Al Baker of the Times wrote that their relationship "is not unlike a bad marriage in which one partner [Bloomberg] keeps up appearances even when the whole world is predicting divorce behind their backs." As if to underscore the point, in December, Bloomberg invited Pataki to his Bermuda estate. "That's what he [Bloomberg] does when he wants to make nice: invites you to play golf in Bermuda," an unnamed City Hall official told the Post.

Give My Regrets to Broadway - The Great White Way went dark for four days and nights in March as musicians struck over the minimum number of musicians required for Broadway shows. Actors and stagehands then walked out as well. The strike was estimated to have cost $10 million.

The War at Home - As the United States prepared for war against Iraq, New York hosted protests and stepped up security. When war began in March, the New York City Police Department launched Operation Atlas, which put thousands of heavily armed police on the streets and heightened protection at sites such as bridges and tunnels, hotels, theaters, embassies, mosques and synagogues. New York served as a focus of antiwar activity, with a number of protests. Most were peaceful, though the police department came under criticism for refusing to grant a permit for a massive February protest and for then arresting hundreds of people at the rally that was held instead.

Snapple in the Apple - In September, Snapple became an official beverage of New York City with a five-year deal that gave the maker of "the best stuff on Earth" exclusive rights to put its drinks in vending machines in city schools. On January 1, a similar arrangement will extend to other city properties. Administration officials, who have sought to use the New York "brand name" to generate revenue, hailed the $166-million deal, but critics cited the lack of competitive bidding for the contract and said the schools should not be selling sugary drinks to an already overweight student body.

Shakeup at the Times - A seemingly innocuous New York Times story on a missing Army mechanic in Iraq spurred a massive shakeup at the paper when it became known that the report, Jayson Blair, had plagiarized the article from a Texas paper. The Times then reviewed Blair's work and, in an extraordinary multipage story detailed other cases of plagiarism and inaccuracy. The ensuing uproar -- and the scrutiny accorded "the paper of record" -- revealed widespread staff discontent with executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd. The two resigned about a month after Blair's transgressions become public. In July, Bill Keller, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who previously had lost out to Raines for the top job, was named executive editor.

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WHAT DIDN'T HAPPEN

Avoiding Doom - In a time of fiscal crisis, it would have been the fiscal megacrisis -- the so called doomsday budget the mayor said would have to go into effect if Albany did not come up with $2 billion to help the city. Under it, some 10,000 city workers would lose their jobs, 40 firehouses would close, and cuts in education would reach deep into classrooms. But the state helped the city avert doomsday by passing a package with tax hikes and service restorations.

Trading Spaces - It seemed like a good solution to several problems. The city would give the Port Authority land that it owns at LaGuardia airport in return for the Port Authority giving the city land it owns at Ground Zero. This would provide the city with money and additional space in Lower Manhattan for the mix of commercial, residential, memorial and cultural space so many New Yorkers want. It would the Port Authority more control of the airports. But even before they got down to nitty gritty finances, talks floundered. In October, the deal officially died as officials announced plans to extend the lease of the airports to the Port Authority until 2050.

Orchestral Dissonance - In June, the New York Philharmonic shocked the cultural community when it announced that it was leaving Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, where it as played since 1962, for the better acoustics of Carnegie Hall. The announcement put the future of Lincoln Center in doubt: The defection of the Philharmonic would leave Avery Fisher facing dark silent nights at the same time it started a renovation project and some questioned whether the cultural complex had any reason to exist. But in October the Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall cancelled their deal, reportedly because of conflicts over scheduling, and the symphony will remain at Lincoln Center -- whatever its shortcomings.

Wait Until Next Year: - For the third straight year in a row, the New York Yankees did not win the World Series, meaning that, once again, no New York team was first in its sport. This time, the Yankees got to the sixth game of the World Series before losing to the Florida Marlins. And to further rub salt in the wounds of New York sports fans, while none of our teams captured titles this year, a team from Jersey -- the Devils -- did, bringing hockey's Stanley cup to the other side of the Hudson.

 

The Big Stories of 2004?


Each year, Gotham Gazette asks some bold face New York names to make their predictions for the city in the new year. Of course, we are not Page Six, and so we attract more standard typeface policy wonks than models, actors, or rock stars.

Still, last year, we were fairly accurate. Subway fares did go up. The economy improved. The courts ruled that the state education funding formula was unconstitutional. And as comedian Alan King predicted, it was indeed the year 2003. (Read about the big stories of 2003)

On the other hand, our prognosticators missed a few or were overcome by wishful thinking. Governor George Pataki did not reinstate the commuter tax. The Mets did not hold up their end of the Subway Series. And our billionaire bachelor mayor Michael Bloomberg did not get married nor did he grow taller.

So once again we try to predict the headlines for New York City in the new year. And we want to include the most important bold-faced name - YOU. Add your predictions to our Message Board.

What Will Be The Big Stories in 2004 in NYC?

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City:

The economy will get stronger, but it won't be as euphoric as some expect. We still have a $2 billion deficit and a $3.5 billion deficit the year after that, so we have to stay focused on providing services without raising taxes. In fact, taxes will have to come down.

Janeane Garofalo, actress and comedian:

If the federal government takes no responsibility for helping New York City, more cuts will be made. And it is usually social services and sanitation that takes the hit. But it's not a problem for me, because I pick up my own garbage and burn everything but tires in my living room.

David Cross, comedian and actor from "Men in Black II":

Will there be a local candidate coming out against the smoking ban? Also the smell of garbage in the city will produce a debate over whether to put a retractable dome over the city and pump in fragrances like apple pie or vanilla.

Jonathan Bowles, Center for an Urban Future:

On the heels of the Bloomberg administration's licensing deal with Snapple, the financially strapped MTA inks a five-figure deal with Dr. Zizmor, the skin specialist, to become the exclusive dermatologist of the transit agency.

Governor Pataki and legislative leaders reach a new low, opting to close the state's budget gap with even more borrowing and failing to come up with an equitable school funding formula. But they also fail to act on calls for legislative and campaign finance reforms, and every incumbent running for re-election in November coasts to an easy victory.

Carolina Gonzalez, New York Daily News editorial board:

To go along with the new stadiums to lure the Jets and the Nets back to New York, we get another new stadium to bring the Mets back from ignominy.

If George Pataki can't make up his mind what to do with Governors Island, he can turn it into a nice Frank Gehry-designed garbage dump so we don't have to ship solid waste so far.

New York issues smoking licenses for bars, which is the way the city and state should have handled the issue in first place.

A real train to the plane, please, not a train from the plane to an even more crowded train.

Liz Krueger, New York State Senator:

The state budget will not get done anywhere near on time causing the city of New York problems with its budget.

We in the state government will not successfully meet our obligation under the court order to increase funding for New York City schools. One Republican legislator has said it will take 15 years. I'm more optimistic. I think if we do it right, we can get it done in five years.

At least five Democrats will announce that they are running for mayor against Michael Bloomberg.

Howard Dean will take the Democratic primary in New York State in March.

Kevin Parker, New York State Senator:

I predict that the Reverend Al Sharpton will win New York State in the Democratic primary for president. Furthermore, I predict that New York State will once again have a multi-billion dollar budget deficit and that the State Legislature will come together to pass a budget without the governor. We will garner even more votes to overturn his vetoes. (This year, the legislature overturned the governor's vetoes with a total of 119 votes.)

Jill Chaifetz, Advocates for Children:

It will be a make it or break it year for school finance reform. The governor and the legislature are compelled to make changes to an arcane and unfair funding formula. The hope is that the right thing is done, and New York's school children benefit by getting the resources they deserve.

I also predict that the City Council will create a Charter Commission on class size reduction to examine if the Charter should be revised to require a certain class size for students.

After this first year of implementation of the mayor's and chancellor's sweeping reforms to schools, the dust will have cleared enough by September 2004 to see what's working well, and what is not, and to hopefully address the problems.

Dan Cantor, Working Families Party:

I predict that the Working Families Party will win its minimum wage campaign in Albany, and that this will do more for low income New Yorkers than almost anything else one can imagine.

Gifford Miller, New York City Council Speaker:

You are going to continue to see New York's recovery and more jobs created. And the Yankees will bring home the World Series next year.

Moby, musician:

There will be massive civil disobedience around the GOP convention. Also, it will be fascinating to see what happens when the Bush administration comes clean about the EPA air quality reports following 9/11.

Gale Harold, actor from Showtime TV show "Queer As Folk":

The Republicans will stage a big event at Ground Zero for the 2004 convention in a display of unfortunate opportunism.

James Oddo, Republican Leader of the New York City Council:

We will see a new level of partisanship in the city. From the budget negotiations to the Republican National Convention, everything will be more partisan. And folks who have had better relations with the mayor than I have and have held press conferences with him over the past two years, will not miss a chance to attack.

Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union:

Hundreds of thousands of people will come to New York to protest at the Republican National Convention. The protestors will seek permits for Central Park and midtown, but the city will offer them that vacant cruise ship on the Hudson. While attending the convention, John Ashcroft will make a tour of the sample sales on Seventh Avenue to buy clothes for all those nude statues at the Met.

Brian McLaughlin, New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO:

Not only do I predict, but I declare 2004 will be the year of the worker. My wish list includes an increased minimum wage; improved worker's compensation laws; a safer workplace; protected and affordable healthcare; dignity for all those who currently work without it; and jobs for all those who want one and need one.

Kenneth Jackson, New York historian:

The year 2004 will be important in New York for three reasons. First, the economy will finally begin to improve in the five boroughs. Second, there will be no terrorist activity either in the city or in the nation so that Gotham will remain the safest city in the United States. Finally, planning will begin in earnest for a large museum of history at Ground Zero that will focus both on 9/11 and on how the greatest city in the world came to be.

Betsy Gotbaum, Public Advocate:

I predict New Yorkers and the media will be less tolerant of the Bloomberg administration. I expect to see closer scrutiny by the City Council and the press of the budget process and public schools reform.

Henry Stern, former parks commissioner:

Will the state government postpone reality and continue to borrow money until 2005? It is an election year, so I predict they will.

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President:

In the future, I predict that the Nets will be playing at a beautiful new arena in Brooklyn. The cruise industry will dock in Brooklyn and our downtown will rise to new heights as businesses flock to new office space. The health of Brooklynites will improve as they eat better and exercise more. In the summer, all of New York will go to a revitalized Coney Island and enjoy hotdogs under the restored parachute jump.

C. Virginia Fields, Manhattan Borough President:

I believe in 2004 we will see some long awaited projects really get off the ground in Manhattan. We should see ground broken on the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway, construction should begin on the World Trade Center site and decisions should be finalized on the future of the West Side rail yards. It will be a year of considerable political activity, capped off by the replacement of George W. Bush in November.

Beverly Willis, Rebuild Downtown Our Town:

The governor seems intent on spending $1 billion in federal [lower Manhattan] transportation money to bury a portion of West Street, which means that we may not have the direct connection to the airport from downtown. Transportation, and the connection to the airports, is critical.

Gene Russianoff, Straphangers Campaign:

Last year, I predicted that "transit officials will launch a major initiative to speed service on the M-15 First/Second Avenue bus," which is the most-used route in this hemisphere. It didn't happen, but I renew my prediction for 2004. It's an unfulfilled promise of the Bloomberg administration and time is running out.

The MTA will propose a $26.5 billion (with a "b") five-year rebuilding program to continue repairing and expanding the transit system. But its fate may not be decided until 2005.

New Year will come early to Chinatown - and 600,000 subway riders - as full train service over the Manhattan Bridge will be restored by February and the Grand Street subway station fully re-opened. But get your new maps Brooklyn riders, as, the D will become the B and the B the D! And don't even ask about the W!

Governor Pataki will abandon plans to spend $900 million to bury West Street alongside four blocks of the World Trade Center site - as other priorities win out.

Mark Green, head of New Democracy Project and former mayoral candidate:

Mayor Bloomberg finally admits that the reason he won't say where he goes on weekends is that he leaves to spend quality time with Dick Cheney at his undisclosed location.

After coming in a surprising and strong second in the Iowa caucuses, Senator John Kerry barnstorms into city the next day and declares, "I'm going to be an Alexander the Great and cut the GoreDeanian knot."

Asked at his annual press conference in October why he attacked Port Washington on Long Island just before the election, President Bush said "9/11 and Saddam changed everything."

Rick Bell, NY Chapter of American Institute of Architects:

I predict that New York City will increasingly be seen as the center of the world for architecture and planning. Design projects now on the boards will transform the shape of the city. The Brooklyn Visual & Performing Arts Library, Downtown Brooklyn planning, Fulton Street Transit Hub, Hudson Yards, Hearst Tower, Jets Stadium, Morgan Library, Olympic Village, New York Times Tower, Penn Station, 2 Columbus Circle, Whitehall Ferry and the World Trade Center PATH Terminal, to name a baker's dozen, will enhance the verve and glamour that makes New York special.

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News film critic:

In 2004, stocks will go up, the economy will rebound, and edgy small movies will continue to come through the pipeline from the days when stocks were down and the mood was dismal. I'm noticing an inverse relationship between the economy and creativity. That means that in 2005 the movies will be crappy again.

Rachel Leon, Common Cause New York:

My wish for New York City in 2004 is not only that we get a fair share of revenue from Albany and the federal government, but also that New Yorkers get accountability and responsiveness from Governor Pataki and the State Legislature so that we can have an open debate of crucial issues rather than business as usual behind closed doors. Campaign finance reform, lobby reform and real electoral reform would be great stocking stuffers, too.

Leslie Cagan, coordinator for United for Peace and Justice:

The year will begin with the City Council finally passing Resolution 909, thereby adding New York to the more than 200 cities around the country to go on record in defense of our basic civil liberties and in opposition to the Bush-Ashcroft assaults through USA PATRIOT Act. On March 20th, the one-year anniversary of the start of Bush's war against Iraq, New Yorkers will march in large numbers as part of a Global Day of Action. And throughout the year preparations for the Republican National Convention will intensify. The Police Department and the mayor will struggle with how to overcome the embarrassment the city faced by their outrageous handling of last year's antiwar protest. They will be pressured by the feds to "secure" Manhattan and, at the same time, called upon to enforce the Constitution and allow the full expression of dissent and protest.

Errol Louis, columnist for the New York Sun:

My hope for our city in 2004 is that we make it through another year free of murderous terrorism - and that we extend and enjoy, for as long as possible, what we may someday sadly describe to our children as the good old days, before the horror began again.

Frederick Lane, professor at Baruch School of Public Affairs:

New Yorkers of all stripes will make a special effort to support the city's nonprofit organizations. The mayor returns the nonprofit desk to the city's economic development machinery. It was senselessly dropped in the Koch administration and has not been heard from since. Like Broadway and Wall Street, New York is simply not New York without maintaining its place as the nation's nonprofit capital.

Glenn Pasanen, professor at Lehman College:

Mayor Bloomberg will transform the entire Municipal Building into the Tweed Management Center. He has already turned the magnificently restored $100 million Tweed Court House into a grandiose bullpen where top educators huddle, and the Board of Estimate room in City Hall into an Ikea bullpen for himself and his top aides.

John Kaehny, Transportation Alternatives:

New York will be the first city in the U.S. to ban car-alarms. The state legislature will finally approve 50 more red light cameras for New York City, for a total of 100. A record breaking number of cyclists will travel city streets.

Brian Lehrer, WNYC Radio:

Wall Street will do well, as corporations and major investors take risks to help the economy look good for the Bush campaign. This will help balance the city budget, allowing Mayor Bloomberg to roll back half the property tax increase. City Council, led by mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller, will get into a bidding war over the size of the rollback.

Bloomberg will get marginalized with a bad daytime slot for his speech at the Republican Convention, speaking out, with his own re-election in mind, for moderation by both Democrats and Republicans. Pataki will get a prime time speech, but will be the butt of jokes behind the scenes by Tom DeLay and company.

The streets during the convention will see bigger and angrier protests than the big pre-war one on February 15th. It will not be pretty.

The entire state legislature will be re-elected with not one incumbent losing a seat, and almost no media coverage of any race. Playing to their bases, Democrats and Republicans will fail to agree on any major legislation, and the budget will be passed early on the morning of the 2nd of July.

Elliot Spitzer will turn his attention from Wall Street to sleazy practices of managed care companies, in conjunction with concerns about Medicare reform.

A "Stop Dean" movement will gather steam in the new year. The New Hampshire and Iowa votes will be closer than expected, giving new life to the Gephardt and Kerry campaigns. But Gephardt will run out of money, leaving Kerry and his Heinz fortune to make a last stand on Super Tuesday, March 3rd. The vote for New York's delegates will be critical that day. Senator Clinton will endorse Kerry that week. Sharpton, Dean and Kerry will split the state's black vote roughly in thirds. Kerry will win the nomination, choose Bob Graham as his running mate, and in a very close election, become the 44th president of the United States.

New Campaign Financing Proposals - And Who They Benefit


Earlier this month, the New York City Campaign Finance Board released a series of proposals that would significantly reform the campaign finance system in New York City. The five-member board reviews the existing law at the end of each election cycle and then submits their proposed changes to the City Council. The council will hold hearings this month to discuss the board's recommendations, and ultimately, the council members will have the chance to vote on the resulting bill.

Of course, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. Almost immediately, the proposal was met with criticism and controversy. Mayor Michael Bloomberg objected to the package of proposals, saying the suggested changes were specifically aimed at helping Council Speaker Gifford Miller in his expected run for mayor in 2005.

The changes would result in a higher ratio of public matching funds to every dollar raised for those candidates who choose to participate in the public financing system. It is expected that Gifford Miller would participate in that system, while Mayor Bloomberg, with his vast personal fortune, will once again finance his own campaign. Bloomberg wouldn't benefit from any changes to this campaign finance law, but Miller could see his campaign war chest double overnight, to a new ceiling of $17.2 million.

Mayor Bloomberg spent $75 million in his self-financed campaign in 2001, in which he defeated Democrat Mark Green. Green spent roughly $16 million, of which approximately one-fourth was publicly financed. The new law could increase the total financing for a candidate by more than half, and a special provision increases matching even further in races in which the opposing candidate doesn't agree to spending limits (that is to say, the millionaire self-financed candidates).

The law, which the board members indicated was intended to level the playing field, could be effective in doing just that, depending on what you mean by level playing field.

In order to have an equal shot in theory, both campaigns don't need the same amount of money. But they do both need enough money. And how much is enough? That's the tough question. In a city the size of New York, which also happens to be the most expensive media market in the country, the answer may be close to $20 million. But once you have enough money, how big an advantage is it to have unlimited amounts of money?

Here's a recent example: The ballot proposal to end primary elections, which appeared on the ballot last month, was supported and heavily promoted by the mayor. He spent $7.5 million of his personal fortune to try and ensure the passage of the nonpartisan election proposition. On the other hand, those who wanted to defend the existing system spent about one-tenth of that: $800,000. A ten to one spending advantage for the "Yes" vote side, and yet the proposal was heavily defeated, 70 percent to 30 percent. If you work out the numbers, that means the mayor spent more than $50 for every "Yes" vote, while the other side spent about $2.40 for every "No" vote.

Money is an advantage in campaigns, to be sure. Money allows you to communicate with millions of people, to employ staff to help organize and mobilize voters, to print literature and buy postage. You can't run a campaign without at least some limited resources. And to have a shot, there is a minimum amount that every campaign needs to have. Money is a necessity of a political campaign.

It is necessary. But it is not sufficient. Money in any amount is not enough to ensure victory. If both campaigns are funded to a certain threshold, if both campaigns have enough, then the playing field is even, if not exactly level.

The latest proposals, if passed into law, will help to define New York City as having some of the most far-reaching campaign financing in the country. And maybe that's a good a reason as any to support this legislation. After all, New Yorkers do like to be number one.

Susan Reefer is a Republican pollster and media strategist. She is based in New York City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York City Council STATED MEETING - December 15, 2003


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 - December 15, 2003

Quote of the Day:

"Four thousand children a year are poisoned by lead and 85 percent of them are children of color.... Our mayor can be a Santa Claus or a Scrooge this holiday season. We believe he should be Santa Claus and bring a gift to the children of the 'lead belt' by signing onto this legislation." - Harlem Councilmember Bill Perkins urging Mayor Michael Bloomberg to support new lead paint legislation passed by the City Council.

Meeting Summary:

In its final meeting of the year, the New York City Council passed 14 new bills, including more stringent lead paint legislation.

The new lead paint regulation (Intro 101-A) would require landlords to clean up lead dust, not just lead paint. It also requires inspections of all apartments in a building where high lead levels in children have been found.

The lead paint legislation has faced much controversy and opposition in the past few years.

In 1999, the council under the leadership of Speaker Peter Vallone passed Local Law 38, which was a less stringent version of the bill. In July, the state Courts of Appeals struck down the law, saying that the council violated environmental law by failing to adequately study or explain the legislation's environmental or public-health impact. Then, proponents accused Speaker Gifford Miller of delaying Intro 101 and not holding a hearing for over a year.

But after much lobbying by advocates, multiple hearings, and revisions to the bill, Speaker Miller and the majority of the council backed it. It passed by a vote of 44 to 5, with one abstention. (Democrats Madeline Provenzano and Helen Sears and Republicans Dennis Gallagher, Andrew Lanza, and James Oddo all voted against the bill. Councilmember Peter Vallone, Jr. abstained from the vote.)

The Bloomberg administration, the Department of Health, and real estate lobbyists oppose the bill and argue that:
- The number of cases of lead poisoning are already declining
- It would be too costly
- It would create a slew of lawsuits against the city
- It is a punitive measure for landlords
- And housing renovations across the city would be slowed down.
(Read an article criticizing the legislation.)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to veto the legislation. The council has enough votes to override the mayor's veto and then the issue may have to be decided in the court system.

"Children out there need the administration to implement this legislation so that they do not become poisoned by a toxic substance," said Speaker Miller.

By a vote of 46 to 4, the council also passed a bill (Intro 38-A) requiring the city to provide language assistance at Medicaid, food stamp, and welfare centers. Over the next five years, the city must provide translation of all documents and notices into Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. (Madeline Provenzano, Dennis Gallagher, Andrew Lanza, and James Oddo voted "no" on the measure.)

The council also passed the following bills:

Legislation (Intro 191-A) requiring construction vehicles like bulldozers and cranes to use cleaner burning diesel fuel when working on city owned sites like the World Trade Center.

A bill (Intro 107-A) requiring employers to make provisions for workers who are victims of domestic violence. For example, an employer would now be required to allow a person a day off to obtain a restraining order.

A measure (Intro 198-A) requiring the city to implement technology that would allow for electronic filing of death certificates.

A bill (Intro 90-A) increasing fines for landlords and companies that do not remove rats from properties.

Property tax exemptions (Intro 646 ) for persons with certain disabilities.

An amendment (Intro 414) to the city law relating to dry cleaning establishments.

Amendments (Intro 415-A) to the city's safety standards regarding the storage of carbon dioxide.

A bill (Intro 122-A) requiring more companies that handle hazardous chemicals to register with the Department of Environmental Protection and increasing fines (Intro 585-A) if they do not.

Changes (Intro 581-A) to the city's electrical code to keep up with new technologies.

And expansion of the boundaries of Empire Zones in East Harlem and East Brooklyn that aim to generate more economic opportunities in those neighborhoods.

The council also delayed a vote until next year on a resolution that criticizes the USA Patriot Act and calls on city police to refrain from a variety of activities including conducting surveillance on individuals not suspected of crimes.

The next stated meeting is scheduled for January 7, 2004

For an archive of past meetings and council votes, visit Gotham Gazette's Searchlight.

 

 

 

Non-Union Tours of Broadway Shows


For theater-lovers in Minneapolis or St. Louis, touring productions of Broadway shows can be lifelines. But they are also lifelines for the many New York actors and stage managers who depend on their relatively high salaries and generous benefits, and for the New York producers who look to the road to reap profits or recoup their losses. Last month, the Actors' Equity Association mounted a campaign to fight the proliferation of non-Equity touring productions, which they see as a threat to the job security of their 45,000 union members and a strain on commercial theater's wage and benefit standards. The issue will come to a head in June, when Equity's $100 million production contract with the League of American Theatres and Producers is up for renewal.

According to Equity figures, 90 percent of all touring productions of Broadway-originated shows used union performers a decade ago, but this year only 60 percent of touring shows do so. Just five years ago, union actors worked 44,000 weeks on road, while last year they worked only 21,000 weeks. The union launched its "Fair Wages All Stages" campaign with a rally in Duffy Square focused on a non-union tour of Miss Saigon. At the rally, Equity members performed The Jobless Chronicles, a musical built around the stories of an actual unemployed steel worker, a restaurant worker from Windows on the World who remains out of work, and a fictionalized cast member who runs away from the Miss Saigon production.

Producers that belong to the league are not allowed to make non-union contracts, but many are finding ways to circumvent this rule. Flora Stamatiades, the union's national director of organizing and special projects, explains that the Broadway producer of Miss Saigon entered into a licensing agreement with a non-Equity producer, who was then free to hire non-union casts and crews for the tour. (League members declined to comment on this issue, citing their desire to focus on the forthcoming negotiations.)

In the past, hierarchies of size and quality governed the road; major cities like Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles would play host to the more elaborate Equity productions, mainly of recent Broadway hits, while smaller cities would present non-union shows, often well after they had opened on Broadway. In recent years, however, non-union tours have begun to compete with Equity productions in major markets.

What's more, audiences are now paying top-dollar for touring shows. While once road shows cost about 50 to 60 percent less than in New York, tickets out of town can now cost 80 percent or more of Broadway prices. "Non-union productions often charge ticket prices as high as Broadway, even though their expenses are half to two-thirds what Equity tours costs, with actors being paid a third to half less than Equity performers," Stamatiades says. "This allows producers to maximize profits."

But do audiences know, or care, whether they see a union or non-union production? Stamatiades argues that "the difference between an Equity actor and non-Equity is experience, rather than talent," but notes that it is misleading for producers to market their shows as "straight from Broadway" when, in fact, they could never have played on the Great White Way. She also notes that some productions have had trouble casting age-appropriate performers, since most actors who are well into their careers are union members. In 2001, reviewers dubbed the non-Equity touring Music Man "Music Boy" because of the lead, who was clearly younger than the part demands.

Like much of the entertainment industry, the Broadway landscape has been transformed by consolidation. Three production companies, Troika, NETworks, and Big League, have been filling more and more prime markets with non-union productions. When Disney got into commercial theater a decade ago, it began negotiating its own contracts for touring shows, and some observers say this convinced other producers to demand changes to the Equity contracts. And the radio giant Clear Channel has become the world's largest producer of live entertainment, owning or operating more than 100 venues in the U.S. and 35 abroad. "When a tour needs to play for 40 to 50 weeks, and the majority of market is dominated by one presenter," Stamatiades notes, "you can't have a successful tour without them."

To keep its members working, Equity has made some concessions to producers on a case-by-case basis. The union has signaled that it would be willing to negotiate in June, but they clearly won't accept any arrangement that sacrifices jobs. And, with a $16 million deficit in their health insurance plan, shoring up members' benefits will be a major issue. For their part, producers have said they have two choices: either not do Broadway tours at all, or go to unions and try to create a new model of production.

Last month, the Boston Globe reported that Boston's Wang Arts Center, a long-time presenter of touring shows, is suffering because of competition by the for-profit Broadway in Boston enterprise, which is run by Clear Channel under non-union contracts. Ironically, the Wang Center played host to the non-union production of Miss Saigon that provoked Equity's current " Fair Wages All Stages" campaign. In the future, it seems, independent producers and presenters may have to work with Equity just to keep afloat in a commercial theater landscape dominated by Clear Channel.

PROTECTIONS FOR NEW YORK'S TALENTED YOUTH

Last month, Governor Pataki signed the Child Performers Education and Trust Act, which passed in the state Senate and Assembly in June after lobbying by Actor's Equity Association, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Screen Actor's Guild. Modeled after California's Coogan law, the New York law codifies protections for young performing artists, television actors, and athletes by mandating that 15 percent of their earnings be placed in a trust fund until they reach 18. (California's law is named after Jackie Coogan, who starred at age 7 in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and was one of the most highly paid film actors of his day. Coogan's parents successfully denied him access to his $4 million in earnings when he turned 18.) The law also requires that child performers have access to qualified educators for tutoring.

Martha Hostetter has written about the arts for the Village Voice, American Theater and Empire New York.



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