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Advocates: '12 Budget Dance Has Heavier Beat
Once again, they're rallying in Brooklyn (and elsewhere) against budget reductions from Washington and City Hall. But after years of austerity, advocates say the annual ritual of protests against proposed cuts has taken on a more urgent tone.
Project Has Citizens Making Budget Choices
A pilot effort is under way in four City Council districts to give constituents some say in which capital projects are funded. Amid successes and snags, there are signs the initiative is getting citizens more engaged in government.
Kensington: What Price a Dog Park?
In Councilman Brad Lander's district, citizen budget delegates learned quickly how expensive simple projects can be. But they also found much could be accomplished without spending a dime.
Rockaways: A Line in the Sand
Citizen budget delegates in City Councilman Eric Ulrich's district focused on two neglected neighborhoods—including one where a wall between the city and the sea has become a subject for debate.
Flatbush: What Would You Do With $1M?
Solar panels. Security cameras. A new church roof. There was no shortage of ideas for citizen budget delegates to consider in Councilman Jumaane Williams' district. But not all of them could work.
East Harlem: Of 500 Budget Ideas, a Few Survive
Delegates in Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito's district had to get savvy about how to get the maximum out of their million. So they expanded the scope of potential projects and limited the number they'd consider.
As City Plants Trees, Benefits—and Some Burdens—Grow
The city’s MillionTrees program fights asthma and global warming. But tightening maintenance budgets, increasingly severe weather and decades-old planting decisions complicate trees’ contribution.
Amid Court Fight, Formerly Homeless In Limbo
The end of the Advantage subsidy program leaves advocates battling to salvage a policy they criticized, the city bracing for more demand for scarce shelter beds and low-income families wondering what comes next.
Brooklyn Library Facing Lower Budget, Higher Demand
Despite the Internet age and the e-book craze, Brooklyn's libraries are seeing increasing usage. But budget cuts are one challenge the system might not be able to surmount.
Can Private Advice Save A Threatened Public Realm?
From schools to public housing to hospitals that serve the poor, private firms are being brought in to rescue remnants of an earlier, more ambitious era of government.
Workers, Kids Suffer in Corruption Probe's Aftermath
One of northern Manhattan's largest non-profit organizations, only last year the focus of a city investigation into corruption allegations, now faces a fresh crisis – one that threatens to disrupt the lives of dozens of working parents and over 100 pre-school children.
From Welfare To Work—Until A Budget Cut Hits
Through the transitional jobs program, hundreds of former welfare recipients have performed actual city jobs—not workfare. But state budget reductions will force the program to scale back.
Life In A Landmark: Pioneering Public Housing Site Shows Its Age
For residents of First Houses—the Lower East Side site where public housing began in the United States—pride in their historic location is mixed with worries about deterioration inside.
What Cuts Will Cost: Children's Learning, Parents' Work
As tabloids celebrate an on-time state budget, a look at what one budget cut at the city level will mean: fewer childcare slots, less school prep for kids and a tough choice for their working parents.
Senate, Assembly Resist Cuomo Cuts To Services
Legislators want to restore many human services that Gov. Cuomo proposed cutting. But the Senate and Assembly still differ by tens of millions of dollars on social funding, and some programs still face elimination.
Critics Of Homeless Program Fight To Save It
Advocates for the homeless have long criticized the Bloomberg administration's approach to getting people out of shelters. But with the state threatening to end funding for the program, most advocates have joined the city to oppose the cuts.
Grandparents Who Parent Are Facing Budget Cuts
Thousands of New York children are raised by relatives other than their parents. Many rely on state programs to support their unexpected second stint as guardians.
Budget
The way a city manages its money can have a colossal effect on the people living within it. In this section, City Limits explores the issues pertaining to New York City’s budget and the effects budget cuts have on the people of the city.
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More Jobs, More Unemployment: NYC's Labor-Market Mystery - Jarrett Murphy
New York City is creating jobs at a faster pace than the rest of the country, but also seeing its unemployment rate rise—and not because new job seekers are flooding the market. What explains the disconnect?
What’s Not to Like About the Cuomo Budget? - Jarrett Murphy
Amid a sea of praise for Gov. Cuomo's second budget, advocates for low-income New Yorkers raised complaints. That, plus the latest on NYCHA, city job creation and the sick leave bill —all in our policy roundup.
Cuomo Calls For Easier Food Stamp Access - Jarrett Murphy
In a wide-ranging annual speech, the governor said fingerprinting applicants is an unnecessary barrier to access. He also called for $1 billion in investment to renew Buffalo.
Gesundheit! Euro Zone Sneeze May Sicken NYC Economy - Jarrett Murphy
Will the Euro crisis bust the city's budget? Who shoulders NYC's tax burden? What would WalMart mean for Harlem? What do immigrants mean for native employment? All that and more in our weekly round-up of policy reports.
Hugh Carey, 1919-2011 - Jarrett Murphy
The former congressman who guided New York State through the 1970s fiscal emergency as governor, was 92. A 2010 biography reassessed Carey's role during the days of crisis.
What Budget Crisis? Unions Say City Sits On Funds - Johann Hamilton
Hundreds gathered around City Hall on Tuesday to argue that Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget cuts don't add up—because there's already ample money in the city's coffers to close this year's funding gap, and there could be even more.
AIDS Program Cuts Stir Protest - Johann Hamilton
Advocates are speaking out against proposed cuts to programs that feed and house people living with HIV/AIDS.
FDNY Closings Will Affect More Than Just 20 Neighborhoods - Jarrett Murphy
Closing fire companies to reduce the city's budget gap could have broad ripple effects as firefighters travel farther to get to emergencies and deal with buildings with which they aren't as familiar.
Mayor's Budget Scolds State, Saves Child-Care Slots - Jarrett Murphy
While announcing the restoration of some child care services that had been targeted for cuts, the mayor's plan projects that many agency budgets will see bigger reductions than earlier predicted.
CONVERSATIONS/OPINONS
Why I'm Fasting To Protest Budget Cuts
As leaders in Washington, Albany and City Hall have contemplated huge funding reductions, advocates have mounted protests, written letters and pleaded through the press. Now some are giving up food. One Bronx leader explains why.
Living Dangerously … at the Library?
In the age of the Internet and an era of shrinking government budgets, are public libraries worth taxpayers' dollars. A conservative policy analyst—and former library worker—says "yes."
MULTIMEDIA
Pledge Agreement for Palazzolo Associate
A complex set of corporate relationships (such as the one outlined in these documents, produced under subpoena for New York City;s housing department and obtained by FOIL request) linked Frank Palazzolo, a wealthy real estate operator, and several troubled properties.
Participatory Budgeting NYC Brochure
Details on a pilot participatory budgeting project in which citizen delegates decide how capital funding is spent.
PHOTO SLIDESHOWS
Beyond CityTime
An Investigation of Private Consultants in the Bloomberg Administration
