Week of July 18, 2005
7/22/05
Random Searches on Subways
The police department began randomly inspecting bags large enough to contain explosives on subways last night, in response to recent bombings on the London transit system. Anyone refusing to be searched will be allowed to leave the station without further questioning, said the police department. There appears to be no precedent for such searches on the city's subways. The constitutionality of such searches remains in question, and civil liberties advocates criticized the move and said it will cause racial profiling. The policy will continue indefinitely and will also include commuter rails and possibly buses and ferries.
For more, see Gotham Gazette's Transportation Links in the News
Random Searches Spark Legal Questions (NY Times)
Hevesi Blocks State's Transportation Borrowing Plan (NY Times)
Ground Zero Workers Lobby for Restoration of Federal Disability Aid (Daily News)
Experts Differ on Whether Searches Are Effective in Stopping Bombers (NY Post)
JFK Plane Collision System Doesn't Work in Rain (Newsday)
Three Museums Score Security, Enraging Rest (NY Observer)
Section 8 Tenants Win The Right To Stay In Their Rent-Stabilized Apartments by Emily Jane Goodman (Gotham Gazette)
Law Links in the News (Gotham Gazette)
Calendar of NYC Events (Gotham Gazette)
7/21/05
Security Training
Transit union officials, arguing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has failed to prepare employees to spot terrorists, said yesterday that they will run its own training course. The classes -- with costs totalling just less than $10,000 -- are being conducted by an Israeli security expert to train subway and bus workers in recognizing suspicious packages and passengers. The president of Transport Workers Union of America, Local 100, which represents 32,000 workers at New York City Transit, said the authority had done little to reassure workers since the July 7 subway and bus bombings in London.City Hall News
Attorney General in New York Pushes to Punish Medicaid Fraud (NY Times)
State Requires Hospitals to Report Their Infection Rates (Daily News)
City Comptroller William Thompson Announced Re-election Bid (NY Post)
City's Cooling Centers Not Activated Despite the Heat (Newsday)
Setbacks and Successes for Education Councils (Gotham Gazette)
Education Links in the News (Gotham Gazette)
7/20/05
Steps to Combat Medicaid Fraud
Governor George Pataki yesterday announced a number of new measures, including the appointment of an independent inspector general, to prevent Medicaid fraud and abuse in the state. The announcement follows reports in the New York Times describing billions of dollars of fraud and abuse in the state's $44.5 billion program to provide healthcare to low-income people. New York has done less than other states to prevent such abuses. The governor also said he would revamp the state agencies intended to safeguard the Medicaid program and named Paul Schechtman, a former federal prosecutor, as an unpaid adviser to develop strategies for combatting fraud in the Medicaid system.
For more, see Health Links in the News
Guarding Underwater Subway Tunnels Poses Challenge for Police, Transit Officials (NY Times)
As Heat Soars, City Electric Use Hits Record High (Daily News)
Wal-Mart Continues to Seek Sites in City (NY Post)
Finalists Selected to Design Memorial for Flight 587 Victims (Newsday)
MTA Buying Up Businesses to Make Way for Downtown Transit Hub (NY 1)
Environment Links in the News -- Waste Train, You Can't Beat the Heat -- and More (Gotham Gazette)
Hybrid Vehicles in NYC, by Sam Williams (Gotham Gazette)
7/19/05
Seventh Graders' Turn
Saying that his policy of not automatically promoting third and fifth graders had resulted in improving their reading and math scores, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that he would end "social promotion" for seventh graders as well. For details, see City Hall News
Transportation Bond Act
Among the projects that would be partly (not fully) financed by a $2.9 billion transportation bond act on the ballot in November, according to a list released yesterday, are the Second Avenue subway ($450 million), the LIRR extension to Grand Central Terminal ($450 million) and the rail link between downtown and JFK International Airport ($100 million), as well several projects to replace or improve NYC bridges, including the Willis Avenue Bridge between the Bronx and Manhattan, and a project to rehabilitate the deck of the Gowanus Expressway. Half of the borrowed money would go to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the other half to the New York State Department of Transportation. For details, see transportation links in the news.
After Second Outbreak Of Legionnaire's Disease, Hospitals Asked To Decontaminate (NY Times)
As Medicaid Balloons, Watchdog Force Shrinks (Second In A Series) (NY Times)
Design Unveiled, And Developers Chosen, For New $818 M Penn Station in Old Post Office (Daily News)
Police Educating Commuters About Terrorism (NY Post)
Recent Cop Shootings Bring Renewed Attention To Life-Saving Protective Vests (Newsday)
Q & A On NYC Police Efforts To Prevent Terrorist Attacks (The New Yorker)
Arts Funding 101, And Why Not Everybody's Cheering, by Jonathan Mandell (Gotham Gazette)
Arts Links In The News: Drawing Center May Pull Out Of Ground Zero; Red Tape Keeps Foreign Performers Away; Bloomberg's "Anonymous" Gift, etc. (Gotham Gazette)
New Video Game: "True Crime: New York City" (Associated Press)
Q & A With CEO Of 7-Eleven (Three Stores Are Opening In Manhattan) (New York Magazine)
7/18/05
Campaign 2005
Candidates for local elected office submitted the required number of signatures from New York City voters to the Board of Elections last week. The signatures are designed to demonstrate that a candidate has sufficient public support to run for office. In this way, hundreds of candidates officially declared their intention to run for local seats - mayor, city-wide office, borough president, City Council, district attorney, and judicial seats - but they must survive legal challenges this summer in order to appear on the ballot this fall.
Political campaigns were also required to update their campaign contribution and spending information with the Campaign Finance Board last week. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent $23 million of his own money so far, outpacing his campaign in 2001, when he broke the city record by spending a total of $74 million. At this point in 2001, Bloomberg had spent just $8 million. The four major Democratic challengers seeking to unseat the mayor have raised about $12 million combined.
For a complete list of candidates, profiles of the borough president races (including the Manhattan borough president race wth 14 candidates), and two new articles on City Council races on the Upper East Side and in Central Brooklyn, visit Gotham Gazette's Campaign 2005
Belated Charge Ignites Furor Over AIDS Drug Trial (NY Times)
New York Medicaid Fraud May Reach Into Billions (First in Series of Articles) (NY Times)
High-Tech Surveillance Systems to Protect Underwater Tunnels (Daily News)
City Schools Keeping Suspension Rate Low (NY Post)
How NYC's Transportation Security Compares to Other U.S. Cities (Newsday)
Being Borough President (Gotham Gazette)
Waterfront Slide Show (Gotham Gazette)
City Council District 4: Silk Stocking Campaign on the Upper East Side (Gotham Gazette)
City Council District 41: Challenging a Family Dynasty in Central Brooklyn (Gotham Gazette)