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Arts
Free outdoor performances are a hallmark of summer in the city -- and so far it seems the recession will not change that.

Civil Rights
The police have had to back off from their arrests of gay men at adult bookstores and teens on their way to a wake in Brooklyn. Andy Humm updates the stories.

Community Development
The city's Water Board could increase rates another 14 percent this Friday. But why is our water getting so expensive?

Demographics
The U.S. Census Bureau wants to count undocumented New Yorkers next year, but some want real immigration reform first.

Education
Even in diverse multicultural New York City, many students do not learn a language other than English.

Environment
This area of approximately 5.2 square miles includes more than 20 sites the government or residents consider contaminated -- many of them close to apartment buildings and houses. In March, the community learned of further dangers.

fea
Living on unemployment is never easy but it’s particularly difficult in New York -- where expenses are high and the payments are low. How do people make ends meet?

Finance
A look at the numbers makes it clear the city faces deeper deficits in the years ahead -- and fewer tools to fill the gaps.

Health

Four clinics are set to shut, four mental health programs in New York City public schools won't be around next year, and three satellite pharmacies are about to fill their last prescriptions.

These are just some of the measures the city's Health and Hospitals Corp. is taking to address an above-the-line budget hole that could grow to $1 billion in 2010. And more are coming, said the corporation's President Alan Aviles.

Call it a side effect of a public hospital system, the Health and Hospitals Corporation has been consumed by a tsunami of unfortunate fiscal tidings. What they say is several detrimental cuts from the state (the state's Department of Health argues otherwise) and a steady rise in the uninsured, the 11-hospital network and scores of outpatient clinics are being forced to restructure -- floating the possibility of a consolidation of services and additional clinic closures.

Immigrants
Abusive homes exist throughout U.S. society, but cultural patterns and fear of going to the police make this kind of violence a particular challenge in immigrant communities.

iotw
Who's the king (or queen) of pork this year? It’s time for our annual look at which City Council members got the most funding for their district, borough or favorite cause.

Law
In a case recently heard in the Bronx, an undocumented immigrant tried to collect damages for wages he might lose in the future -- a future that might find him in Kosovo, not the U.S.

Measuring Up
After all the reports and rhetoric on mayoral control of city schools, it soon will come down to the only grade that matters -- the one from the state legislature.

Parks
Along with providing relief from concrete and places for reflection and recreation, parks offer an array of economic benefits and can even save taxpayers money.

Searchlight

Holidays were the topic of conversation at the City Council yesterday, with the body approving a three-month penalty forgiveness period for environmental fines as well as a resolution that urges the city schools to give students two Muslim holidays off.

Social Services
With more and more New Yorkers needing help to buy food, many residents who would qualify for food stamps do not get them. The city says it is working to get the word out, but some experts say it could do more.

Tech
Many New Yorkers rely on calling cards to keep in touch with family overseas. All too often, they end up paying more and talking less than they had planned.

Transportation
A new city report sets out a plan for making bicycles a major part of New York's transportation system. Graham T. Beck detal the proposal that would let New Yorker pick up and drop off bikes all over town.

Voting
Has a politician asked for your signature lately? No wonder. Getting on the ballot, staying there and knocking opponents off has become a political blood sport.

Special 9/11 Topic Pages:

9/11/01-/02: Our topic page columnists analyze a year of changes in New York City, in everything from arts to civil rights to technology to the environment.

Arts
Martha Hostetter explains how the arts institutions suffered economically, even while artists helped build community.

Civil Rights
Andy Humm assesses the state of civil liberties since 9/11. Also: the 12 vacant seats on the human rights commission; the new local law about same-sex marriages.

Crime/Justice
Julia Vitullo-Martin attempts to answer the question: Are New Yorkers right to feel as safe in the city as anywhere else in the country?

Demographics
Andrew Beveridge looks at the numbers to present a portrait of those who died at 10048, the zip code that was the World Trade Centerƒs alone.

Environment
Eric Goldstein looks at "the World Trade Center cough" and the other environmental health impacts of the World Trade Center attacks.

Finance
Glenn Pasanen explains what he sees as two major results of 9/11: compounding the "long-ignored structural budget deficit," and exposing the "insider decision-making" in the budget process. It is a process, he says, that has resulted in a reduction of funding for education at a time when education is supposed to be a priority.

Health
Maia Szalavitz reports on how New Yorkers have been coping in the year since 9/11, and offers tips from mental health counselors on how to handle the anniversary.

Housing
Some rents are lower, Rebecca Webber points out, but otherwise the story of housing in the past year is one of more homelessness, fewer vacancies, canceled plans for affordable housing, and unknown consequences in the future.

Immigrants
A special section on the anniversary of Sept 11, which affected immigrants in special ways.

Land Use
Laura Wolf-Powers details the land use rebuilding issues that New Yorkers should be watching to figure out where we are going to go from here -- the swap, the lease, the governor, the Olympics, etc.

Parks
"This September 11, people will again find their way to the parks," as they did a year ago, Anne Schwartz says. But if the parks are more important than ever to New Yorkers, one result of 9/11 is a further reduction in their funding.

Social Services
In the year since the terrorist attack, 70 percent of Americans are said to have offered some kind of aid -- and that includes donations of more than $2.2 billion so far. But, as Linda Ostreicher relates, this outpouring of charity is now accompanied by sharp disagreements over what to do with it, stirring up almost as much passion as the disaster itself.

Tech
Laura Forlano reveals the many important lessons that the rebuilding and recovery effort has taught us about the functioning of technological systems during times of crisis.

Voting
Most people have probably forgotten that September 11, 2001, started out as a day when New York City held primary elections. This year's primary election is not just a calendar year away from the attacks, but it comes at the end of a year when the political fortunes of many candidates have been deeply affected by the implications of the tragedy. The attacks were the background of political life in New York starting with last year's mayoral race and continuing through this year's race for governor.

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