Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Topics

Topics

Using Republican As An Epithet


This summer, in the race to succeed former State Senator Guy Velella in The Bronx; or in the jockeying for position among those who would seek the mayor's office next year, it seems there is no better way to cast doubt on your opponent than by using the R Word: Republican.

Of course, State Senator Guy Velella is a Republican who was forced to resign in disgrace and is currently serving time in Rikers Island prison for accepting bribes. So maybe it's not too surprising that his credibility, and that of his party, might not be at its peak right at the moment.

When it comes to the mayor's race, it is always a little strange to see a Republican mayor in New York City, where Democrats have a five-to-one registration advantage over Republicans. This is the third Republican mayoral administration in a row (since Giuliani was elected twice), which is a first in New York City politics.

Then, summer in New York this year meant all those parties -- no, not political parties, actual parties: book parties for Bill Clinton, premiere parties for Michael Moore, a huge, glamorous, star-studded blowout fundraiser at Radio City for the newly conceived Kerry-Edwards ticket. Whatever else may be true, the Democrats sure are having a lot of fun here this summer.

From a public relations standpoint, all of this is unfortunate timing, considering that thousands of red, white, and blue-clad, elephant wearing, George W. Bush loving, dyed in the wool, partisan, loyalist Republicans are going to descend into the city of New York just next month.

But then again, New York has always been home to a vast array of diverse populations, and if they could learn to live in peace, there may yet be hope for the Ds and Rs.

The R Word

The particular ways in which the Republican label has been used as an epithet in recent weeks were highlighted at a press conference early this month.

Standing on the steps of City Hall, two former rivals for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Mark Green and Fernando Ferrer, were seen doing what they have rarely been known to do: agreeing. They held a press conference to announce their joint endorsement for Assemblyman Jeffrey Klein, one of the Democratic candidates running in the open State Senate seat in The Bronx, which had formerly been held by Guy Velella.

Not only did both Green and Ferrer indicate their support for Klein, they both expressed their disregard for Klein's opponent, Democratic Assemblyman Stephen B. Kaufman. Because Kaufman has received public support from Republican elected officials, and financial support from Republican donors, he is apparently no longer considered a bona fide Democrat.

Talking about Jeffrey Klein, Mark Green said, "He's a real Democrat. It's important that real Democrats come out and endorse real Democrats."

Which left little room for doubt that there were no fake Democrats on the steps of City Hall that day.

The Three Ds

But it's not just the state senate contest in which the Republican shadow looms large. The race for the mayor's office, set to be decided in November 2005, will begin almost as soon as the results of this year's election are counted.

Michael Bloomberg, the Republican first-term mayor, has had to do his own share of defining, distancing, and defending.

Defining, because quite often, Michael Bloomberg will seek out particular policy positions or advocate for particular issues that are in direct contrast to the national Republican agenda.

Distancing, because Bloomberg finds himself drawing closer and closer to a re-election campaign while the city draws farther and farther from the party whose banner he is forced to carry.

Defending, because for all his reticence, Bloomberg does support some of his fellow Republicans both financially and politically. And his rivals haven't failed to notice.

One man who would like to replace Bloomberg, Council Speaker Gifford Miller, took Bloomberg to task earlier this month. He called on the mayor to lobby his fellow Republicans in Congress for increased federal aid. Other Democrats with their sights set on Gracie Mansion have made similar statements, designed to remind voters that the mayor is in the same political party as George W. Bush.

Of course, in politics, things can change. It's possible that by next year, Republican will no longer be the R word it has become this summer.

Susan Reefer is a Republican pollster and media strategist. She is based in New York City. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using 311 to Combat Neighborhood Noise


 



Mr. Softee doesn't want to hear it.

Also:

• Noise
by Chaleampon Ritthichai

In Community Gazettes
Sounding out on noise in a number of New York neighborhoods:

Looking for Quiet in a Neighborhood that Never Sleeps
(District 3: Greenwich Village)
Mister Softee and the Sound of Gentrification
(District 39: Carroll Gardens)
The Roar of the Crowd
(District 18: Soundview)
Enduring Half a Century of Airport Noise
(District 32: Howard Beach)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed sweeping changes to the city's noise code, cracking down on everything from fireworks to ice cream trucks to nightclubs. However, as a constituent recently told me, not all of these city-wide efforts will have a local impact.

"Noise from fireworks really isn't a problem on my block," the person said. "The kind of noise problems my neighbors and I have are more localized and often get ignored."

While I applaud Mayor Bloomberg's resourcefulness in setting up the city's 311 help line and analyzing the data to conclude that noise is New Yorkers' top quality-of-life complaint, the information from 311 is not being used as well as it could be to solve the problems plaguing New Yorkers.

The city's 311 system provides only city or borough-wide data, which hides evidence of where local noise problems originate. For example, the mayor can tell us that noise complaints in Manhattan have increased from 5,000 to 5,050 in one month, but he can't tell us if 50 of those calls are coming from the same raucous bar or even a specific block.

311 data is also not shared with local officials like City Council members, community boards, or the public. 311 rarely, if ever, refers calls to the community board - despite their roles as local ombudsmen and their established relationships with local police, agency heads and businesses - their members and staff may not learn about many of the problems in their communities.

That is why I have drafted a piece of legislation (Introduction 174) that would require the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications to provide local information about 311 calls - including the locations, types, and numbers of complaints - to local officials. With my bill, council members, community boards and the public (through www.nyc.gov) would receive monthly reports on 311 complaints broken down into data that they could actually use.

As citizens use the 311 service to seek relief from problems, they are not turning to their local community boards as frequently, and thus the city is not benefiting from the expertise that boards provide in problem solving. A 311 call may lead to dispatching a police officer to fine a noisy local nightclub, only solving the problem for one evening.

Involving the community boards and council members who grant permits and oversee zoning, however, is the most effective way to address consistent problem-areas. It is the difference between treating a symptom and curing a disease.

Sharing 311 data with local officials can also solve other quality-of-life problems, and can be cost effective. Last week, I had 30 constituents who live on a quiet block call my office about a rat infestation. If we had the local 311 data sooner, we might have caught the infestation before it became rampant.

However, at a recent City Council hearing on the bill, the officials from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications said they were unwilling to support the bill, citing the difficulty in sorting the enormous centralized databank of complaint information and integrating data from older computer systems into local reports.

It certainly will cost something to create a larger database, but the ultimate savings in money and efficiency will be worth it.

Community boards were created in order to combat this kind of monolithic, centralized approach to government, which often leaves local concerns unidentified and neglected. We've seen a revolution in using local data to combat other citywide problems, such as in the New York Police Department's use of CompStat.

Noise control - along with many other issues - merits the same approach.

Mayor Bloomberg needs to use 311 to empower local officials to fulfill their charter-mandated jobs of planning for the future, or his next big noise complaint might be the combined cries of city residents whose quality of life is suffering from poorly identified local problems.

New York City Council Gale Brewer represents the Upper West Side and chairs the City Council committee on technology.

 



Print Friendly and PDF

Editor's Choice


Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years