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Recent Reports
05/12/08
The construction of new schools and classrooms has not kept up with the pace of new housing in some city neighborhoods, leading to persistent overcrowding in some elementary and middle schools, according to a report released Friday by City Comptroller William Thompson. The report, "Growing Pains: The Need to Reform Department of Education Capital Planning to Keep Pace with New York City’s Residential Construction," includes a neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis contrasting the new seats provided in the 2005-09 Capital Plan with expected population growth and proposes new ways to finance and speed construction of new schools.
05/08/08
This report by the Independent Budget Office examines the reasons behind the rise in water and sewer rates. Fringe benefits for system employees, energy and chemical costs, and state taxes are some of the biggest reasons for growth in operations and maintenance costs, which have risen 40 percent since 2001. They are estimated to rise another 20 percent this year. These costs will no longer be the largest category of spending, however, and will been overtaken by debt service, which is expected to begin rising 15 percent a year. Rent paid by the Water Board to the city for use of its infrastructure is expected to rise 13 percent a year.
05/07/08
A legal loophole allows the city to open schools in leased buildings that could pose hazards to children, according to a report released yesterday by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. The report, "The High Cost of Leasing Schools," focuses on existing buildings leased by the School Construction Authority. Some of these are on former industrial sites, but under existing law, the authority does not have to get an environmental review of these properties. To remedy the situation, the report calls for closing what it terms "the leasing loophole in the Public Authorities Law."
How the Economic Downturn Affects the Nonprofit Sector
05/06/08
This presentation from the Fiscal Policy Institute looks at how the economic downturn could affect local nonprofits and offers suggestions for organizations. Some suggestions for navigating the future include: carefully managing costs, maintaining a skilled, dedicated and productive workforce, diversifying funding, and developing a vision of the respective roles of government and the nonprofit sector.
Schools Slacking on Physical Education
05/05/08
A report by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum found 3 percent of third graders had gym class every day, despite a state mandate. State law requires students in kindergarten through third grade participate in gym class daily, and fourth through sixth graders participate three times a week. The survey questioned 100 random elementary schools and 50 randomly selected middle schools throughout the five boroughs. The report urges the Department of Education to meet state requirements and provide athletic extracurricular activities.
05/01/08
Due to risky lending trends, many neighborhoods across the city are vulnerable to large scale foreclosures if the housing mark slows, according to a new report by New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. The report, the center's annual "State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods," finds that city residents have been increasingly taking subprime and refinance loans. In 2006, "21 percent of all home purchase loans and 27 percent of all refinance loans were subprime, compared to the national rates of 13 percent and 16 percent respectively." Another concern is the increase in use of second liens, which have grown from 9 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2006. The report also finds that black and Hispanic borrowers are much more likely to have these risky loans than their white counterparts.
Neighborhoods in Transition: The Gentrification of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
05/01/08
04/30/08
The number of people arrested and jailed for possessing small amounts of marijuana in New York City increased sharply during the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations, according to a study released yesterday by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The group found more than 350,000 people were arrested on misdemeanor marijuana charges between 1997 and 2007, compared to 30,000 during the previous decade. Of those arrested over the last 10 years, more than half were black, even though only about 25 percent of the city's population is black. Whites, who make up 35 percent of the city's population, accounted for only 15 percent of the arrests.
Class Size and Contract for Excellence
04/29/08
Despite receiving $152.7 million in new state funds meant to lower class sizes, the New York City Department of Education has failed to implement a comprehensive class size reduction plan to meet state goals and has allowed class sizes to rise at a third of the city schools receiving the funds, according to a report by the United Federation of Teachers.
Parent Coordinators Hard to Find
04/28/08
Five years after the position was created, a survey by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum found that the Department of Education’s parent coordinators are more difficult to reach now than ever before. The report, which surveyed 100 parent coordinators, found that three-quarters of parent coordinators did not return phone calls, and 71 percent of messages left for coordinators were not returned. Gotbaum has recommended enforcing after school hours for coordinators and ensuring coordinators return phone calls.
04/24/08
The status of PlaNYC a year after its launch is chronicled in this progress report by the Bloomberg Administration. It says that of the 127 initiatives that comprise the plan, 90 percent have been launched. Some of the highlights include the opening of 69 schoolyards as public playgrounds and the planting of 50,000 trees; the streamlining of brownfield cleanup programs; 60 miles of new bike lanes; the passing of legislation codifying greenhouse gas reduction targets and fuel efficiency standards for new cabs. One plan put on hold was an effort to enroll the city in a federal flood management program to reduce insurance rates. This was halted because it was found that insurance rates would not fall significantly enough.
Priorities and Progress in PlaNYC
04/23/08
With the anniversary of PlaNYC this month, the League of Conservation Voters has released a report that assesses the plan's progress and identifies priorities that the city should take as Mayor Michael Bloomberg's time in office winds down. One recommendation the League makes is increasing the cost of parking in the Central Business District. Another is requiring city funded cultural institutions to adopt energy efficiency measures. The report also calls for job training in green industries.
Loophole Closure Could Raise Millions
04/21/08
New York City could realize as much as $225 million annually in net revenue if it closed a loophole in the unincorporated business tax that applies to hedge funds and private equity firms, according to a new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute. The report argues for closing the loophole so the city could tax managing partners at private equity firms and hedge funds. These partners are now not taxed because they invest their own capital, which is also subject to the personal income tax. In 2007, the 13 leading New York City hedge funds generated $20 billion in profits.
04/18/08
Calls to 311 have grown from 1.2 million in 2003 to 14.3 million last year, according to a report by the Independent Budget Office, and spending on the 311 operation grew from $16.9 million to $46.6 million over the same period. The report also found that the number of calls answered within 30 seconds or less fell from 99 percent in 2003 to 63 percent in 2005. This year, however, with a leveling off of annual increases in calls, the call center aims to answer 90 percent of calls within 30 seconds, the budget office reported.
Enough Schools for All the New Homes?
04/17/08
There has not been enough school construction to match the apartment construction in Manhattan, according to a new report by Borough President Scott Stringer's office. Enough new homes have been approved since 2000 across the four neighborhoods at highest risk of overcrowding to add 2,300 new students, but only 143 new classroom seats were created, the report said. It also showed that Manhattan's elementary and middle schools are already 3,900 students over capacity.
Greater Oversight of Police Misconduct
04/16/08
A new report by Citizens Union, the good government group and sister organization to Gotham Gazette’s publisher, calls for greater oversight of police misconduct, including allowing the Civilian Complaint Review Board to prosecute cases it substantiates. The report also urges the city to give more active subpoena power to the civilian board and expand its resources to investigate complaints, among other policy recommendations.
New York City Foreclosures in 2007
04/15/08
This report from New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy looks at foreclosures of local properties in 2007. The analysis finds that a majority of the nearly 15,000 mortgage-related foreclosure filings in New York City in 2007 were on multi-family buildings, and only about 40 percent were on condominiums or single-family homes. The analysis shows that over 30,000 households (or about 76,000 New Yorkers) are living in
properties that entered the foreclosure process in 2007. The Center estimates that more than 15,000 of these households (or some 38,000 New Yorkers) were living in rental units. Most tenants living in buildings going through foreclosure face eviction if the property is sold at auction. However, tenants protected by New York State's rent regulation laws, which apply to many units in larger buildings, are not at risk.

