Recent Stories
Recent Stories / June 06, 2005

Week of June 06, 2005

6/10/05

A New Olympic Bid?
Citing "exceptional circumstances", the International Olympic Committee said yesterday that it would allow New York to change its bid for the 2012 Olympics. The city's bid was thrown into disarray earlier this week when it seemingly lost the option of using a new Jets stadium for the games. There are few alternatives available: Giants Stadium and the proposed Yankee Stadium are too small, and officials have rejected options to adapt Shea Stadium or build a new stadium in Queens.

Both the Jets and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, meanwhile, are holding out the possibility of a West Side Stadium, though it would not be included in any Olympic plan. Both sides are also looking for alternatives. The Jets are considering working with the Giants on a new stadium in New Jersey, and the MTA has said it may reopen bidding on the railyards.

Today's Report...
A Look at the Impact Schools
This Drum Major Institute report profiled the middle and high schools included in the Impact School program. It found that the schools, included for having high levels of crime and disorder, were more likely to be overcrowded and underfunded, and more likely to have overage students, and to serve a student body consisting of poor, black students compared to average high schools.

Full report here (.pdf format).

6/9/05

Council Blocks Garbage Plan
The New York City Council blocked a key aspect of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed 20-year waste management plan, which would ship the city's garbage out of the city by rail or barge, instead of by truck. In an unusually close vote of 29 to 19, the council rejected plans to reopen three proposed marine transfer stations, piers where sanitation trucks can dump garbage onto barges. Speaker Gifford Miller, who is running for mayor, led the opposition; one of the transfer stations is located on East 91st Street in his district. The speaker needs five additional votes to override the mayor's expected veto.

For more, see Gotham Gazette's article

For more, see City Hall News

Parks Department Lawsuit
The New York Parks and Recreation Department agreed yesterday to change its promotion practices as part of a settlement in a federal discrimination lawsuit claiming that the agency overlooked black and Hispanic employees. The department admitted no guilt, but has pledged to post job vacancies so that all employees are aware of them and to make promotions based on performance evaluations and merit.

For more, see City Hall news

Today's Report...
Budget Risks
New York City Comptroller William Thompson issued a report analyzing Mayor Bloomberg's Fiscal Year 2006 Executive Budget. The report cites $655 million of "risks" in the fiscal plan, including retroactive wage increases for teachers, firefighters and police and higher than estimated police overtime costs. The report also warns of relying on non-recurring actions to balance the budget. The city expects a $4.4 billion deficit in Fiscal Year 2007 and a $4.2 billion deficit in Fiscal Year 2008.

Full report here (.pdf format).

6/8/05

Fallout from the Stadium Vote
A day after a state panel apparently doomed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plans for a football stadium on the West Side, many considered what comes next for the area and for the city's hopes to play host to the 2012 Olympics. Bloomberg was grim, saying that in rejecting the stadium, "We have let down America." But the U.S. Olympic Committee does not want the city to withdraw from the competition for the games, however remote its chances of success might be. And so yesterday, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff and others considered what, if anything, could be done to salvage the city's bid.

Questions also surround the rest of the West Side development plan, including extension of the number 7 subway line and expansion of the Javits Center. and the future of the 13 acres of land owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where the stadium was to have been built. The News reported that the Jets might go ahead and build a less expensive stadium on the site -- without public funding. The MTA is considering what to do with the site, and Cablevision, which had its own plan, reportedly remains interested.

For more, see City Hall News

Freedom Tower Security
A top police security official yesterday expressed satisfaction with the developing plan for the redesign of the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, saying it will be "the safest, largest building in the city." Deputy chief John Colgan's remarks at a City Council hearing came a month after safety concerns derailed plans for the tower.

Today's Report...
Low Graduation Rates
Only 12 percent of all public school students who received special education services graduated with regular high school diplomas in the past eight years, according to a new report by Advocates for Children. The advocacy group found that that rate lags far behind the gradation rates for special education students in the state and the country.

Full report here (.pdf format).

6/7/05

The Stadium Is Dead

New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics was dealt a big blow on Monday when state officials rejected a $ 2.2 billion plan to build a new stadium, considered critical to New York's chances of landing the Games. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno , two of three members of the New York state Public Authorities Control Board, abstained in a vote to approve the plan while Gov. George Pataki voted in favor. Unanimous approval was needed for the stadium financing. Silver said yesterday that he could not support the project on the West Side, along with the large commercial redevelopment plan Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed, because it would undermine the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, his district. (NY Times)

The International Olympic Committee released yesterday a report assessing each of the five cities vying for the games. Paris and London received the highest praise, while the committee expressed concerns about New York's ability to build an Olympic stadium.

Read the full Olympic Committee Report (.pdf format)

Today's Report...
Olympic Committee Evaluation
The International Olympic Committee released yesterday a report assessing each of the five cities vying for the games. Paris and London received the highest praise, while the committee expressed concerns about New York's ability to build an Olympic stadium.

Full report here (.pdf format).

6/6/05

Breaking News...

Silver Votes No on Stadium
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of three voting members of the state Public Authorities Control Board, plans to veto the financing plan for the proposed $2.2 billion West Side Stadium. It is unclear how New York officials will now proceed with their bid for the 2012 Olympics, which was contingent on the stadium.

Today, the International Olympic Committee released a report assessing each of the five cities vying for the games. Paris and London received the highest praise, while the committee expressed concerns about New York's ability to build an Olympic stadium.

Read the full Olympic Committee Report (.pdf format)

West Side Stadium
A crucial vote on the construction of the West Side stadium by the three-member Public Authority Control Board is scheduled for today, after being postponed for the third time on Friday because Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver signaled his intention to vote against it. Over the weekend, according to the Times, "Silver gave no signal that he was any closer to siding with the mayor, repeating his assertion that not enough was being done to redevelop Lower Manhattan and his belief that Queens would make a better site for the stadium."

Also today, a commission appointed by the International Olympic Committee will release its evaluation of the five finalists for host city of the 2012 Olympics -- London, Paris, Madrid and Moscow, as well as New York -- 30 days before the committee makes its choice. Bloomberg has said the new stadium is essential to winning the Olympics.

Campaign News
Democrats attacked Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ties to the Independence Party, criticizing him for donating $250,000 to the party and accepting its support in spite of written remarks by an influential party official, Lenora B. Fulani, criticizing Jews and Israel. Gifford Miller, a vocal foe of the West Side Stadium, came out over the weekend in support of the Nets arena in Brooklyn. For details on these and other campaign stories, go to Campaign 2005

Recent Stories...
Campaign News ... West Side Stadium ...

Last week's stories...