Week of August 8, 2005
8/12/05
Art at Ground Zero
The International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center may no longer move to Ground Zero. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has put in place a new vetting process for the institutions, meant to ensure that they will not display art offensive to the families of 9/11 victims. It is not clear whether either museum will be able to comply with the regulations. The Drawing Center said it is already looking for other space, but did not rule out staying at Ground Zero. Additionally, the overall size of the building where the museums will be housed will be significantly smaller than originally planned.
For More on Ground Zero, see Gotham Gazette's Community Gazettes Page for District One
On Land Acquired for Parks, Big Plans Followed by Neglect (NY Times)
Mayor Will Not Ban Circumcision Rite (Daily News)
Feds Place Blame for Ferry Crash on Executives, Not Pilot (NY Post)
Speculation Continues on How Snakehead Fish Ended up in Flushing Lake (Newsday)
New York Is Country's 21st Most Liberal City, Says Study (NY Sun)
8/11/05
Goldman Sachs to Stay in Lower Manhattan
Goldman Sachs has agreed to build a $2 billion new headquarters across the street from the former World Trade Center site, reversing its earlier decision to abandon lower Manhattan, according to an article in the New York Times. The financial firm had concerns about security and traffic in earlier designs for rebuilding the area. To lure the company back, the city agreed to change the streetscape and reverse the flow of traffic on Murray Street. In addition, Goldman Sachs will receive $150 million in new city and state tax credits, as well as $1.6 billion in bonds which allow the private company to borrow money at government rates.
For more see City Hall News
Proposed Science Park Hopes to Lure Biotech to New York (NY Times)
City's Health Department Urges Restaurants to Use Low Fat Oil (Daily News)
6 Subway Line is Best, N is Worst in Straphangers Survey (NY Post)
Queens Tries to Lure New York Jets (Newsday)
Is Mayor's Race About Race? (Village Voice)
Bloomberg's Campaign Army (NY Observer)
8/10/05
Standardized Tests
Public school students in grades three, five and seven will be required to take two sets of standardized testing this school year, the Department of Education announced yesterday. Students will take four tests over the course of the year, two English and two mathematics exams. One set of results will be for the city, the other for the state, which tests children in grades three through eight for the first time this school year under requirements of the federal education law, No Child Left Behind. City education officials said that they needed to continue to give a separate set of tests because the state results would be returned too late to factor into summer school and promotion decisions.
For more information, go to City Hall News
Ferrer's Bid Mines Anxieties and Hopes of an Ethnic City (NY Times)
City Paying $1.8 Million to Save a Carousel in Coney Island (Daily News)
Lead-Paint Tax Break Extended (NY Post)
Bloomberg and Ferrer Trade Barbs Over Police (Newsday)
Controversial Former NY Post Publisher Abe Hirschfeld Dead At Age 85 (NY 1)
8/09/05
Senate Race
Jeanine F. Pirro, the Westchester County district attorney, announced yesterday that she would run against U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton next year. "Hillary Clinton is not running to serve the people of New York," said Pirro, in a preview of her campaign strategy. "We are just a way station in her run for the presidency." Several other Republicans are interested in the nomination, including Edward Cox, Richard Nixon's son-in-law.
Vicious Predator Fish Found In Queens Lake (NY Times)
Trial Begins Of "Junior" Gotti, Accused In 1992 Kidnapping And Shooting Of Guardian Angel Founder Curtis Sliwa (Daily News)
Harmless Gases Released In Midtown As Test Of "Terror Gas" (NY Post)
Average Manhattan Salary, $73,032, Best In The U.S. (Newsday)
Campaign 2005: Ten Budget Choices Facing The Next Mayor (Gotham Gazette)
Hot 97 Radio Station Fined $240 K For Female "Smackfest" (Reuters)
New York's Economy Is Stalling (City Journal)
City's New Approach To Solving Homelessness -- Turn Some People Away (City Limits)
8/08/05
Federal Transportation Funds
New York City could get hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money for transportation projects under a $286 billion bill recently passed by Congress. But in most cases, Washington will pay for only part of the project, leaving state or local agencies to pick up the rest. And so some area officials are saying thanks but no thanks. For example, Congress authorized $15 million to buy three ferries to serve the Rockaways. But the city says it would still have to cover operating expenses -- and that would cost too much. The bill authorizes $100 million to design and plan the proposed Cross Harbor Tunnel between Jersey City and Brooklyn. The tunnel itself, though, would cost billions, and the Port Authority says it is has no plans to build it at this time. For more, see Transportation Links in the News.
Possible Bias Crimes
Officials are treating the beating of a black man in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn early Sunday morning as a possible bias crime. Police said the man, Alex Moore, was going home after visiting a friend when six to eight white men beat him with pipes and bats and robbed him after at least one used a racial epithet. Moore has been released from the hospital. And in Manhattan this weekend, a man walking with another man was attacked by two men, one of whom yelled anti-gay slurs.
After the Jets Stadium, New Proposals Circulate for West Side Railyards (NY Times)
Veteran Teachers Leave City Schools (Daily News)
Minority Enrollment at CUNY Increases (NY Post)
Officials Call for Crackdown on Illegal Ads (Newsday)
The Mayor's Money and the Campaign Finance Program (Gotham Gazette)
Two Views of Giuliani - Did He Save the City or Hurt It? (Gotham Gazette)
The Mayoral Candidates Debate How to Fight Poverty (Gotham Gazette)
The Council Race in District 13 - Saving Suburbia in the City (Gotham Gazette)
Racial Profiling and the Subway Searches (New York Magazine)