This Week's Stories
GG's quick takes on recent NYC news


Week of 13 March 2000:

Taxi!
Thanks to Bruce Schaller, ace transportation analyst (and Gotham Gazette columnist), we have now have data to verify popular impressions: it's gotten harder to flag a cab in this town. According to an article by Randy Kennedy in this morning's Times, Schaller used Freedom of Information laws to procure Taxi and Limousine Commission records for the past ten years. He found that the number of passengers rose 17% over the decade, from 206 million in 1990 to 240 million in 1999. But the number of "dead miles" -- miles cabbies spent looking for passengers, a roughly reliable index of availability -- declined from 310 million to 271 million (out of 772 million total). Few cabbies made windfall profits: the average take for the average shift of 141 miles was $254, minus gasoline costs and lease payments to the medallion owner.

Boyle Charged
These are not happy times for the Port Authority. Yesterday NYS Attorney General Spitzer filed a civil lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against Robert E. Boyle, the PA's executive director and longtime associate of Gov. Pataki. Spitzer claims that in 1991 Boyle breached his fiduciary duty as a member of a hospital board of directors by arranging for the hospital to lease office space which he and partner Albert Pirro had surreptitiously acquired for that purpose. Boyle is being sued for $500,000 restitution to the hospital. The charges come amidst near-paralysis at the Authority when it comes to embarking on any major new venture: New York thinks New Jersey gets too much of the pie and NYS representatives won't agree to much until a new deal is struck.

Demography
The Immigration and Naturalization Service is celebrating the opening week of Census 2000 by pledging to "take special care in residential neighborhoods and defer some routine and discretionary enforcement operations during peak census activity periods." The statement amounts to an INS moratorium through August, says Owen Moritz in this morning's Daily News. In the same edition, Ralph Ortega writes that censuus takers will find a transformed Bronx. The borough's overall population held steady this decade (1.20 million in 1990, 1.19 million in 1999), but within that equilibrium vast shifts occurred. Net domestic outgoing migration was 263,000 while net international incoming migration was 139,000. There were fewer non-Hispanic whites (271,000 to 223,000) than nine years ago, but also fewer Puerto Ricans. Big surges came in the numbers of Dominicans, Mexicans, and Central Americans.

Contract Controversy
Comptroller Alan Hevesi refused to sign off on $469 million of City contracts yesterday, charged that the award process had the appearances of "corruption, favortism, and cronyism," and pledged that he would forward his findings to an investigatory body. The Mayor defended the propriety of the contract process and characterized Hevesi's motivations as "purely political." The bone of contention is a series of three-year contracts to run the City's welfare-to-work programs for about 200,000 adult recipients. Hevesi alleges that the rules on competitive bidding were circumvented, that the prime contractor was negotiating details of the deal three months before the work was put out to bid, and that a former mayoral aide had signed a prior, undisclosed partnership agreement with the contractor. Many more details in Eric Lipton's story in this morning's Times.

Bronx Homicides
The number of homicides in the Bronx has soared this year, reports Bob Kapstatter in today's Daily News. There have been 52 slayings through 5 March, an increase of 80% over the 29 homicides in the same period last year. Shootings are up 37%. But gun arrests are down. Speaking off the record, local commanders and police brass don't hesitate to say that the Diallo trial has significantly affected many cops' behavior. "I don't think there are an awful lot of cops out there looking to get those guns off the street anymore," said one official. "They're asking themselves, 'Why stick my neck out?'," said another.

Last week's stories...


Gotham Gazette
198 Broadway  •  7th Floor
New York, New York 10038
Phone: 212-227-0342  •  Fax: 212-227-0345
email: info@gothamgazette.com