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This Week's Stories GG's quick takes on recent NYC news | |
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6/13 Water Filtration Plant The City Council gave its support yesterday to a controversial water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, allowing the State Legislature and Governor George Pataki to approve the plan. The project, originally proposed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the 1990s, is opposed by parks advocates and north Bronx residents who are worried about years of construction. For more on the filtration plant debate, see Gotham Gazette's Searchlight. Tax-Free Weeks The council also approved a resolution to create two weeks with no sales tax, one the week of Labor Day and the other the week of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Speaker Gifford Miller said that the council would remove the tax on clothing purchases under $110, which was recently reinstated as part of recent budget agreements, in one year instead of three. Rebuilding Roundup A coalition of rebuilding civic groups held a news conference this week urging officials to protect architect Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site. The Civic Alliance said that the design has been "subject to attack from all sides," by a proposal to build one million square feet of retail space, leaseholder Larry Silverstein's call for another office tower and a push by downtown residents to bring the memorial space up to street level. The Civic Alliance has posted images of how these and other changes could alter Libeskind's design on their website. For more rebuilding news, go to Rebuilding NYC. The Rebuilding Roundup is posted every Friday. IN THE NEWS New York Times: Online and Mail-Order Sales of Tobacco To Be Banned In New York State Daily News: Williamsburg Food Company Agrees to Pay $860,000 In Back Wages New York Post: City To Help Prevent Male Dropouts Newsday: Klein Creates a Longer Tuesday for Middle and Elementary Schools New York Sun: Clarence Norman Defends Brooklyn Democratic Party The Villager: Hudson River Park Trust Decides to Put Off Pier 40 Development Decision Gotham Gazette: Gotham Gazette: Budget Cuts In Transportation by Bruce Schaller Gotham Gazette's Searchlight: City Council Approves Water Filtration Plant in Bronx Park Gotham Gazette's The Citizen: from From World Journal Dim Sum: Not Just A Cantonese Favorite Anymore 6/12 Teacher Conduct Teachers accused of misconduct, but cleared by arbitrators in disciplinary hearings, will not be allowed back in the classroom, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said yesterday. The change in policy was prompted by the cases of four teachers, accused of past incidents such as sexual harassment and paying students to steal, who returned to the classroom after arbitration. Under state law, the teachers cannot be fired because they have tenure, but Klein said they would be assigned to administrative jobs. The chancellor also announced he will propose state legislation requiring teachers to testify under oath before a special commissioner of investigations when misconduct is alleged. Under current law, tenured teachers can refuse to answer the special commissioner's questions. School Layoffs Some 3,600 city school employees began receiving layoff notices yesterday resulting from budget cuts and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's overhaul of the education system. The workers include 864 classroom assistants, 1,800 school aides, 700 administrative staff and other employees in district offices. Some people will be able to apply for other positions in the recently created Department of Education. IN THE NEWS New York Times: Aide To Assembly Leader Arrested On Rape Charges Daily News: Council Bill to Ban Car Alarms New York Post: Mayor and Governor Battle Over Rebuilding Funding Newsday: Livery Cab Drivers Protest City Policies New York Sun: Will WTC Memorial Become a Shopping Mall? New York Observer: Bloomberg's Role in Water Filtration Plan in Bronx Gotham Gazette: Rent Control Debate in Albany by Rebecca Webber Gotham Gazette's The Citizen: from From World Journal Council Bill Bans Youth from Internet Cafes 6/11 New Rules for City Shelters New York City is no longer required to provide shelter to homeless men and women who are "disruptive" or "refuse to take steps toward self-sufficiency," a state appellate court ruled on Tuesday. The decision, reversing a 1981 court decree in which the city promised to provide a bed to anyone whe seeked it, gives the city more freedom to establish standards of conduct for its shelters and evict those who do not comply. The ruling affects only the city's 8,142 homeless single adults and will not apply to homeless families, which are still guaranteed shelter under almost all circumstances. Schools Suit Settled A lawsuit charging that the proposed restructuring of the city's schools violated state law by removing 32 community superintendent positions has been settled. Reached by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and the lawmakers, principals, and children's advocates who filed suit, the settlement requires the city to maintain a three-person administrative office - including a superintendent - in each community school district. For their part, Bloomberg and Klein are allowed to proceed with the meat of their plan: dividing the city into 10 regional districts, each with its own $165,000-a-year regional superintendent. The 32 community superintendents will report to the 10 regional superintendents. IN THE NEWS New York Times: City Gets Pledge of $30 Million for a School Principals' Institute Daily News: Taxing Junk Food, Video Games and TV Ads New York Post: Mayor and Governor in Rift Over Rent Protection Newsday: Silverstein: Libeskind's WTC Role Undefined Village Voice: Telling Ray Kelly to Protect the Constitution Queens Tribune: Commission Ponders Non-Partisan Elections Gotham Gazette: The Affluent Of Manhattan, by Andrew Beveridge Gotham Gazette's The Citizen: from From JoongAng Labor Unions And Korean Small Business 6/10 Crime Continues to Fall Reversing the trend in the rest of the country, crime has continued to fall in New York City. According to the latest statistics from the mayor's office, major crime has fallen 8 percent this year from the same period last year and dropped in every category except rape, the New York Times reports. The Bloomberg administration credited the success to a series of highly selective crime-fighting initiatives such as Operation Impact, in which 800 police officers were deployed in 62 crime pockets, and Operation Spotlight, which targets repeated misdemeanor offenders and puts them in jail for longer periods. Lawyer Fee Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tom Kelly says the agency is paying $400 per hour to at least five lawyers from law firm Proskauer Rose to defend its recent fare hikes in court, the Daily News reports. "I'm sure a lot of riders would be angry to learn their fares are underwriting the defense of the MTA's deception," said Gene Russianoff, lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, the organization that brought the lawsuit challenging the fare hikes. A panel of state Appellate Division judges will hear the case today and will later decide whether to uphold the lower court ruling that ordered that the fare hike be rolled back. IN THE NEWS New York Times: From Welfare to (Course) Work Daily News: Bruno Plan Looks to Chop Rent Rules New York Post: Miller Plans to Cut Bloomberg Out of Budget Loop Newsday: WTC Families Want City to Oversee Rebuilding Gotham Gazette: Why the 1965 Voting Rights Act Applies to New York City, by Doug Muzzio Gotham Gazette's The Citizen: Obesity among New York's Youth 6/09 Memorial Debate Speaking at a funeral mass for the youngest firefighter killed on September 11, 2001, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday that rescue workers should be separately recognized on the memorial to those who died in the attack. With his comments at the funeral for Michael Cammarata, the mayor entered a heated debate over whether all of the 2,792 victims of the World Trade Center attack should receive the same treatment on the Ground Zero memorial or whether there should be some kind of special acknowledgment for the firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians who died trying to save people. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which chose the jury that will select the design for the memorial, has said it should honor all victims equally, but should somehow "acknowledge all those who aided in rescue, recovery and healing." While the firefighters union, for one, has called for special recognition, many relatives of civilians who died have urged that all victims be treated equally. On Saturday, Bloomberg said he did not believe there should be a separate memorial for the rescue workers, but that the memorial "must provide recognition" to those who "fell saving the lives of others." (In Gotham Gazette's Rebuilding NYC this week, retired firefighter John Finucane says the memorial should list the names of the rescue workers together. IN THE NEWS New York Times: Anger, Emotion Mark Funeral for African Immigrant Slain by Police New York Times: Bloomberg Booed, Pataki Cheered at Puerto Rican Day Parade Daily News: President of Police Union Re-elected in Landslide New York Post: Politicians Consider Making Rent Control Law More Tenant Friendly Newsday: Congress to Investigate Why Businesses Did Not Get 9/11 Aid The Villager: More Than 13,000 Register to Submit Designs for 9/11 Memorial Gotham Gazette: Our Latest New York City Quiz -- Transportation in the City Gotham Gazette: 350 Years of Trying to Get New York Moving -- A Concise History Gotham Gazette's The Citizen: From Novoye Russkoye Slovo Illegal Trafficking in Caviar Last week's stories... ![]() |