Developing Public Housing Land

The plan to build market-rate buildings at public housing sites doesn't save NYCHA, it threatens it. There's a better way, this writer argues.

High-Conflict Custody Battles

Child abuse and neglect aren't the only ways parents can hurt children. In high-conflict custody cases, kids are often quiet victims.

Career and Technical Education in NYC

The Bloomberg administration responds to our reporting on its efforts to reform career and technical high schools.

The Homelessness Crisis

Yes, solving the homelessness crisis will take more affordable housing and living-wage jobs. But it will also require a better shelter system.

Should NYC Citizens Be Lawmakers?

The city can offer voters the chance to pass legislation directly without encountering the alleged flaws of California-style government-by-referendum.

Violence and Safety at School

Conservatives want armed guards in the schools. Some liberals want to call in the National Guard if school violence threatens. What do those at risk—k… READ MORE »

Homeless Policy After Bloomberg

The city's shelter system can't create the housing and jobs that would prevent homelessness. The next mayor must rally the agencies who can.

Fixing Housing Court

With 2,000 cases rolling in every day and 11,000 families losing their housing last year, a survey found that tenants are at a stark disadvantage in B… READ MORE »

Voting Rights in NYC

A key part of the landmark law is being challenged at the Supreme Court. While discrimination at the voting booth is often thought of as a Southern pr… READ MORE »

Does the NYPD Criminalize Communities?

This writer says NYPD tactics and attitudes unjustly target blacks, Latinos, gays, transgender people, vendors and sex workers.

Broken Adoptions

No one's sure how often adopted children end up back in foster care. What is certain is that blood relationships are often too deep or complex for cou… READ MORE »

What Kind of Campaign-Finance Reform Does NY Need?

It's not just that Gov. Cuomo's campaign-finance reform plan doesn't go far enough. It's that even the best reform won't do enough to make our system … READ MORE »

New York's Libraries: Help Wanted

Libraries perform a critical role in workforce development for low-income New Yorkers. But budget cuts have so curtailed service that Detroit's librar… READ MORE »

Credit Fairness

Congress may make it harder for employers to check the credit scores of potential hires. Until they do, job-seekers need to know their rights.

Taxi Technology

A livery cab owner wants to slam the brakes on a proposal to allow riders to pre-arrange yellow cab pickups with a smartphone app.

College Readiness

When Mayor Bloomberg took charge of New York's schools, he highlighted wide racial gaps in school achievement as a rationale for reform. A new study f… READ MORE »

Broken Elections

Many city voters will recall the 2012 election chiefly for the long lines and deep confusion they endured. With municipal elections just around the co… READ MORE »

Is a Better Politics Possible?

Corruption, cronyism—much was wrong with old-fashioned machine politics. But compared to today's campaigns of sound-bites and surveys, yesterday's war… READ MORE »

Saving Public Housing

Yes, says this writer, but it will require vision and renewed drive by the Bloomberg administration: Doing a few things better will not be enough.

Dealing with Debt

After reining in spending during the recession, low-income New Yorkers are again piling on debt—reflecting, in part, a lack of financial savvy that af… READ MORE »

Islam, Free Speech and the MTA

A Muslim New Yorker says the ads by an anti-Islam group are absolutely legal–and absolutely immoral.

Time to Close Attica?

The head of the nonprofit Correctional Association argues that Attica Correctional Facility should be closed—not because of its tragic history, but be… READ MORE »

Special Education Reform

This school year the city has undertaken a dramatic transformation of special education to try to improve student achievement. While applauding the pu… READ MORE »

The Soda Ban

Like the smoking ban, the trans-fat ban and requirements to post calorie counts, Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to ban large sodas makes good sense but fa… READ MORE »

Juvenile Justice Reform: Unfinished Business?

New York stands virtually alone among states in allowing teenagers to be tried as adults and sentenced to adult prisons. Amid a wave of juvenile justi… READ MORE »

Doing Something for NYC's Teen Dads ... and Their Kids

The city's teenaged dads can make a huge difference in the lives of their kids. Yet they are forced to navigate Family Court with little guidance, and… READ MORE »

Are Bad Rules Making Bad Cities?

Zoning laws, building codes and other regulations can seem like bureaucratic obscurities. But, says this author, they have a powerful—and often negati… READ MORE »

The Risks of Lien Sales

The city allows private companies to collect on overdue water and property tax charges. It's a sensible way to maximize public revenue, says this auth… READ MORE »

Myths of the Minimum Wage

'It hurts the young. It helps too little. It boosts unemployment.' There are plenty of myths about the minimum wage. The reality is, more and more wor… READ MORE »

Immigration and NYC's Resurgence

In an excerpt from his new book, noted business writer Greg David looks at the unheralded role immigrants played in fueling New York City's late-20th … READ MORE »