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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.
Brooklyn Students Press for Dream Act
College students are pressing the state legislature to pass a New York version of an idea that's stalled at the federal level: Giving undocumented immigrant students a chance at a career in America.
For Some, Occupy Movement is a Test of Faith
Many in the Occupy Wall Street movement frame their advocacy in religious terms. For one Brooklyn clergyman, that means tension with some churches, and challenges for his own congregation.
Occupy Sunset Park: Seeking Change in Many Languages
A long subway ride from the Lower Manhattan epicenter of the Occupy phenomenon, community activists in one Brooklyn neighborhood are trying to translate the movement's goals into local action.
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.
Odds Could Be Against Casino Opponents
In the looming debate over full-scale casino gambling in New York, it will likely be harder for foes to document the proposal's potential costs than for pro-casino advocates to predict benefits.
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.
Brooklyn Donors Favor de Blasio
Is it too early to be thinking about the 2013 municipal election? Of course! But that hasn’t stopped New York’s mayoral hopefuls from collecting half a million bucks in Brooklyn last year. Who got? Who gave?
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.
Will Cities Be Heard in Campaign 2012?
Great nations feature great cities. But American campaigns usually don't. Four years after voters elected a president who pledged to do more for cities, is that about to change?
New Orleans:Federal Housing, Environmental Policies Clash
The weeds were growing high in the Upper 9th Ward even before the hurricane hit.
Detroit: Beyond the Bailout, Immigration Is Key Issue
While many hands have shaped the good and bad of today's Detroit, the impact of current federal policy is easy to spot.
New York: Local Transit's Future Depends on the Feds
Transportation advocates in the nation's largest city believe the 2012 election will decide the future of mass transit in the United States.
Oakland: Federal Ammo Running Short for War on Crime
Oakland is a place where urban America is confronting two questions: Does the federal government know how to help fight local crime? Can it afford to?
Privatization's Risks Involve More Than Money
Not only has city spending on outside contractors swelled in the past decade. The role of private firms in developing city policy has expanded. Have accountability and transparency kept pace?
From Buses to Special Ed, Contractors' Role in Schools Questioned
Many private firms' projects in city schools have not been "disasters." But that doesn't mean these multimillion-dollar projects are the best way for a school system to spend its money.
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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?
Obama Housing Cuts Eyed - Jarrett Murphy
President Obama's budget is getting hit for doing harm to housing. But the president's funding request also would restore money to a key urban planning program. More on the budget, stop-and-frisk, indigent care and prevailing wages in our policy report round-up.
Queens Scene: Thompson Backs Convention Center - Jarrett Murphy
The former comptroller and 2013 mayoral hopeful repeated familiar policy positions on schools, business and crime, but did announce his backing for the governor's controversial economic development plan.
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.
Following the Story: Nationwide, Firefighter Deaths Drop - Jarrett Murphy
The number of on-duty deaths dropped by 7 percent nationwide. New York City closed out another year without a fatality during an operation, despite responding to 23,000 blazes.
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.
Ruling Touches But One Part of Church-City Relationship - Jarrett Murphy
A policy news round-up: Churches still get city funding and tax breaks, housing vouchers show mixed results and the West Indian Day Parade episode turns attention to the rules cops live by—or are supposed to, anyway.
City Says New Bus Service Works; Job Numbers Dip - Jarrett Murphy
As the mayor unveils a scaled-back Select Bus System for 34th Street, a look at how bus experiments on 1st and 2nd Avenues have worked out. Plus, new city employment data and a look at City Councilmembers' human rights records.
Guidance for Election 2011's Few Choices - Jarrett Murphy
November 8 is Election Day. While the Bronx and Queens offer district attorney races featuring a single candidate on multiple lines, several boroughs have judicial races. Now there's a place to find out a little more about those hoping to hold the gavel.
Report: Shift in Child Welfare Policy Undermined by Budget Moves - Helen Zelon
The IBO depicts a profound change at the Administration for Children's Services, with preventive offerings replacing foster care as the agency's go-to policy. But questionable budget decisions undercut the impact of the shift.
Watch a Wind-Driven Fire - Jarrett Murphy
With FDNY a key partner, federal scientists have been experimenting with better ways to fight wind-driven fires. Watch what happens in this test when a window in a burning room fails.
Harlem: Will Booze Ban Boost Barbers? - Charu Sudan Kasturi
A new state law prohibits the sale of Nutcracker in hair salons and barbershops. But many hair cutters back the ban, saying the measure will snip away at a stigma.
As Mandatory Evacuation Ordered, Looking at NYC's Risk - Jarrett Murphy
The mandatory partial evacuation announced this afternoon is the first in history for a city that has always been extremely vulnerable to—if rarely visited by—hurricanes.
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.
Playground Ban Can Make It Hard To 'Make New York Your Gym' - Jarrett Murphy
The city wants us to get out and exercise more. But the rules say one place we can't work out is in park playgrounds. Is there a way for kids and kinesthetics to share these spaces?
Immigrants' U.S. Paychecks A Lifeline To Home Countries - Vincent Trivett
Immigrant workers who send money to support their families contribute mightily to their home countries' economies. But high fees and other obstacles erode the impact this cash could have.
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.
Weiner's Shorts (Policy Shorts, That Is) - Jarrett Murphy
Before the scandal, even before he became a leading liberal spokesman, the Brooklyn-Queens congressman ran for mayor as a wonk.
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.
CONVERSATIONS/OPINONS
NYC Needs Paid Sick Days, Not Lame Excuses
Thousands of New Yorkers face an impossible choice when they get sick: Go to work and get yourself and others sicker, or stay home and risk losing pay or your post.
City Policy, Not Corruption, to Blame for Nonprofit's Woes
The former head of Alianza Dominicana responds to a City Limits story about a dispute between the nonprofit's workers and administrators.
Firefighter for a Day
After months reporting a story on the FDNY, all it took was three steps into a smoky room for this reporter to realize how much he didn't know.
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.
Governing With 'Class': Politics The Bloomberg Way
A new book argues that the popular image of Mike Bloomberg as a post-ideological mayor misses the profound way he has reshaped New York for the benefit of the corporate elite.
MULTIMEDIA
FDNY report on fatal fire, August 27, 2006
The fatal fire investigation report on the deaths of Lieutenant Howard J. Carpluk Jr. of Engine 42 and Firefighter Michael C. Reilly of Engine 75 at 1575 Walton Avenue, Bronx.
Missed Opportunity
How New York City can do a better job of reconnecting youth on public assistance to education and jobs (by the Community Service Society of New York [cssny.org])
