Gotham Gazette

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Opinion

I’ve Worked in Times Square for 18 Years; A Fresh Entertainment Destination – with Gaming – is the Change the Neighborhood Needs


Rendering of a proposed Times Square casino


In 1998, I started selling clothing at the corner of 45th and Broadway in the heart of Times Square. Back then, the neighborhood was chaotic, overwhelming, and a little bit scary. In the 2000s, the area was a target of global violence, as well: On May 1, 2010, a Nissan Pathfinder parked near my stand began emitting smoke. I joined a handful of other vendors in alerting the NYPD, who eventually found and disassembled an explosive device made up of two full 5-gallon cans of gasoline, three full 20-gallon propane tanks, and more than 250 pounds of fertilizer. Times Square – and all of New York – dodged a bullet that day. 

Fast forward 13 years, and Times Square has undergone a remarkable transformation.

As I walk to my stand today, I can't help but marvel at how different the area looks and feels from when I first arrived. The quality of ground-level retail has also gone up dramatically. The iconic peep shows, once synonymous with Times Square, have given way to clothing stores, souvenir shops, and restaurants. A once-seedy portion of the city has become a family-friendly magnet for visitors. 

Still, I can't help but feel that there is more work to be done. While the city's efforts to improve safety and security in Times Square have been commendable, there is still a sense of economic unease that lingers in the air. The two engines of Times Square’s economy have always been tourists and office workers, both of which were hampered significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, many of the tourists have returned, but the switch to hybrid work has left a real dent in the neighborhood.  

In the midst of this uncertainty, I’m struck by the need for further development. The prospect of a once-in-a-lifetime entertainment destination opening in the area – Caesars Palace Times Square – is generating buzz, and for good reason.

Caesars’ proposal for a new gaming venue at 1515 Broadway, in partnership with real estate developer SL Green and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, would bring a brand-new flagship to what is already New York’s best entertainment destination. This project would generate an influx of visitors, providing a much-needed boost to theaters, hotels, restaurants, and retailers in the area.

Caesars Entertainment, SL Green, and Roc Nation are also promising a multi-million-dollar investment in Times Square, including congestion mitigation efforts, improved safety, and better sanitation. 

The impact of this partnership would extend far beyond the casino itself, benefitting the entire community and funding a wide range of neighborhood initiatives and improvements to make Times Square the safest, cleanest, and most pedestrian-friendly entertainment district in the world. 

I have seen Times Square at its best and at its worst. A new, state-of-the-art entertainment destination like Caesars Palace Times Square is exactly the kind of innovative development that can keep the neighborhood on the right track. Times Square thrives on change, and this is the change that we need. 

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Duane Jackson is a vendor in Times Square.

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Civil Justice Reform Can Help Accomplish Progressive Goals


Municipal Building Brooklyn (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


New York’s broken civil justice system is holding back progress.

Civil justice reform is often unfairly maligned. In reality, most common-sense legal reform initiatives align with progressive goals and values that benefit all New Yorkers. 

Civil justice reform targets the financial incentives that often drive excess lawsuits. A relative handful of people currently abuse the civil justice system for economic gain. Lawyers rake in millions from the injured and most vulnerable members of our society. Personal injury firms advertise heavily on daytime TV, near construction sites, and even target emergency rooms with digital ads. According to a study published by the RAND Corporation, personal injury claims are disproportionately filed by residents of the poorest neighborhoods, with attorneys consistently taking 33% of every settlement.

Then there are the financiers, unregulated consumer lawsuit lending outfits and hedge funds that invest in lawsuits, turning the civil justice system into a tool for predatory lending. Interest rates on lawsuit loans have exceeded 100% interest and bankrolled some of the worst abuses of our civil justice system. In addition, these third-party lenders can drag out litigation, the judge and jury unaware that a third party is working behind the scenes. These practices incentivize speculative lawsuits that clog up the courts for those who really need them. Progressives seek to protect the vulnerable. Regulating predatory lawsuit lending would be a good place to start.

Due to our liability system, New York is the most expensive place to build on the planet. The state’s unique Scaffold Law, dating back to the 19th century, holds property owners and contractors 100% liable for any injuries sustained on job sites, even when they were not primarily at fault. With money and resources tied up in liability, investments aren’t made in progressive goals like repairing and updating schools, building affordable housing, or expanding wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.

Any person or business causing harm to others should be held accountable, but due to our permissive laws, profit-seeking lawyers often target innocent people. If someone trespasses on private property, breaks the law, and injures themselves, the property owner will likely get slapped with a lawsuit. There must be changes made to the law prohibiting trespassers from suing for injuries sustained while trespassing, but we should also ensure that these reforms – which would reduce expensive lawsuits that increase homeowners’ insurance and costs to municipalities – also protect children. This includes children who may have found the neighbor’s unsecured swimming pool appealing and children hurt due to homeowners’ negligence. 

A truly progressive state must have affordable and equitable health care in all communities. In New York, the threat of baseless medical liability lawsuits has driven doctors out of our state and contributed to the nursing shortage crisis. Fewer doctors threaten access to care for our most vulnerable communities. Doctors worry that just practicing in places like the Bronx can “destroy their careers.

Even when medical care is accessible, it is wildly expensive, due in large part to liability costs. New York has the country's highest medical liability payout costs, both overall and per capita. And some legislative proposals could make the situation worse. This is both expensive for patients and makes it difficult for New York to attract the best doctors.

The core of our civil justice system is to protect individuals and ensure the scales of justice remain balanced. Common sense legal reforms will prevent unnecessary lawsuits, reduce medical costs, improve access to the courts and medical care, and help us build more affordable housing and realize the state’s renewable energy goals. The current system is weighted towards wealthy and politically connected lawyers. It needs to work for the rest of us.

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Ruvi Lopez is grassroots manager at the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York. On Twitter @LawsuitReformNY.

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End Legacy Admissions, Ensure More Fair College Acceptance in New York


Heading to college (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


Last year, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases that could fundamentally change how colleges offer admissions to historically disenfranchised students. A group called Students for Fair Admissions filed suit against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, challenging the use of race as one measure of a prospective student’s application for admission. The group argued that any consideration of race, even if non-dispositive, is unconstitutional. Most legal experts predict that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court is likely to agree. 

Ensuring that historically marginalized students can receive the same opportunities as privileged students is incredibly important. Just 27% of Black and 20% of Hispanic adults living in New York City have a bachelor’s degree, compared to 45% of Asian and 64% of white residents.

While the Students for Fair Admissions cases are grabbing lots of headlines, there are actually more pernicious admissions practices that make it more difficult to ensure every student has equal access and opportunity to pursue higher education. The real culprits of fair college admissions are practices such as legacy preference and binding early-decision admissions that effectively work as a form of affirmative action for privileged students, who are allowed to take spots at selective colleges from equally (or more) qualified students of color and first-generation college applicants. 

For years colleges have given the family of alumni an advantage when they apply for admission, which they claim fosters a sense of “community and tradition” on campus, or that it helps raise money for their endowments. In truth, legacy preferences just favor wealthy, more privileged, and predominantly white families that have lived in the United States for generations and benefited from past exclusionary and discriminatory policies. 

More than 70 colleges in New York provide a legacy preference. Worse yet, more than a third of our public universities consider an alumni relation relevant in admissions. Almost none of New York’s colleges publish data on how many legacies they enroll each year. The data we have, however, shows the disturbing extent to which legacy preferences undermine racial diversity at New York colleges.

Nearly a quarter of New York residents are immigrants and almost one-fifth are native-born citizens with at least one immigrant parent. This anachronistic policy of “legacy preference” shuts the door on many of these potential applicants, who may be the first in their family to go to college.

Likewise, early-decision admissions, which allow students to apply early to one school and commit to attending if accepted, is an equally, if not more exclusionary, practice. Forty-five New York colleges and universities offer an early decision option. Applying early-decision requires know-how and money, which may be why students attending private high schools are more than three times as likely than public school students to apply early decision. A student applying early is at a competitive advantage relative to other applicants because colleges and universities set aside a significant number of seats for early applicants, and those students who apply must be financially prepared to enroll if accepted without being able to consider financial aid offers.

What this means is that students without wealth and strong college counseling — students who disproportionately are Black, Hispanic, low-income, and/or first-generation — are likely to be at a disadvantage for early decision programs. You don’t need any more proof than this: applicants from the wealthiest ZIP codes in the United States were twice as likely to apply early decision than all other applicants. 

Legacy preferences and early-decision admissions policies are by their very definition exclusionary practices that harm students without access to privilege and wealth. That’s why we introduced the Fair College Admissions Act, which would prohibit the use of legacy preference and early-decision in all colleges in New York, public and private. Schools that continue to use these exclusionary practices would be assessed a penalty equal to 10% of their tuition revenue, which would then be used to bolster the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), which provides financial assistance to students of lesser financial means. 

This idea should not be radical. In 2021, Colorado became the first state to ban legacy preferences in college admissions. And in recent years more than 100 public and private schools have voluntarily done the same, including Amherst College, California Institute of Technology, Pomona College, and Johns Hopkins University. Unsurprisingly, the sky did not fall and these institutions continue to thrive. 

Given the Supreme Court’s expected decision in the Students for Fair Admissions cases, New York and the higher education institutions that call this state home can take bold action to dismantle the systems and traditions that bar underprivileged students from pursuing educational opportunity by enacting the Fair College Admissions Act and living the values of equitable inclusion that makes our diverse state so great. 

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State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Latrice Walker each represents parts of Brooklyn. On Twitter @Sen_Gounardes & @TheRealLatriceW.

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Jordan Neely, the Social Safety Net, and Blaming the Victim


Gov. Hochul talks mental health care (photo: Don Pollard/Governor's Office)


The often competing interests of public safety and compassion toward individuals experiencing homelessness again collided violently in New York City. Jordan Neely, 30, a Black, homeless man, was fatally subdued on the subway recently by a young white former Marine named Daniel Penny. 

Some consider Mr. Penny a hero; others refer to him as a racist vigilante who put Mr. Neely into a chokehold until death. Many reference Mr. Neely’s history of arrests, erratic behavior, and reports of autism and substance use.

I see yet another example of a phenomenon called “blaming the victim.”

My experience as a disability advocate assisting chronically homeless individuals in New York State leaves me wondering why the homeless services system manages to emerge relatively unscathed whenever high profile incidents like this occur.  

If a municipal authority, social services official, or nonprofit organization makes a statement about such an incident, it is usually prefaced with “He didn’t” or “She wouldn’t” or “They refused.” We have been conditioned to believe that homeless individuals are “services resistant.” Yet in my work with this challenging population, I have rarely met anyone who didn’t want a clean, safe home.

It is beyond time to examine key factors that relate to our ongoing crisis.

Approximately one third of the homeless population is disabled with cognitive impairments, psychiatric disorders, traumatic brain injuries, and often related substance use disorders. Nearly every disabled individual whom I’ve assisted had been kicked out of shelters for “noncompliance” with extensive rules with which they could not comply. For example, a nearly blind man with a brain injury was required to sign many pages of rules without assistance or eyeglasses to stay in a shelter.

Mr. Neely reportedly experienced a psychiatric disorder, autism, and a substance use disorder. He was at high risk of death on the streets and was on the “Top 50” list of people outreach workers viewed as most in need of assistance. He had been brought to hospitals voluntarily and involuntarily. 

We are relying upon an antiquated shelter system. Many shelters require residents to leave during the day, while others can be so unpleasant that residents prefer to leave. This forces libraries, gas stations, transportation systems, churches, and parks to accommodate their needs, thereby exacerbating their challenges and the homeless visibility issues that concern neighbors, commuters, and tourists. 

Lacking a permanent address, homeless individuals who encounter problems with the law often don’t receive notices of court dates. Then, when arrest warrants are issued, they avoid shelters and soup kitchens where warrants may be served. 

Mr. Neely reportedly had been arrested over 40 times. Numerous arrests for misdemeanor offenses may have been unavoidable, like public urination and trespassing. A warrant was issued for Mr. Neely’s arrest in February; notably, he referred to being hungry, thirsty, and tired on the subway prior to his death and indicated that jail may be a place he could get his basic needs met.

Some individuals whom I’ve assisted were treated with astonishing cruelty by homeless services personnel unqualified to work with psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders. This is a significant reason why people exit services.

There are immediate steps that we can take to improve conditions.  

Register all disabled homeless individuals in New York State for Medicaid. This will offer access to physicians and rehabilitation specialists who can provide expert diagnoses, so we no longer need to rely upon the opinions of homeless services personnel, outreach workers, and police.

Identify those at highest risk of death; house them and all individuals on the “Top 50” list in single-room accommodations. They should receive medical and legal services coordinated by a disability advocate who accompanies each person to all appointments.  This is how I assisted all of my people into permanent housing. It works. 

Develop a strong appeals process to reduce evictions from shelter.

Provide places for people to go - daytime drop-in locations equipped with computers, WiFi, TVs, beverages, and snacks, where people can also nap safely.

Stop blaming the disabled victims of a flawed homeless services system.

Vehemently denounce violence against homeless individuals.

Help is on the way.

Ten years ago, President Obama launched The BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies). This project is generating fascinating insights into new treatment options for brain-related disorders. Recently, President Biden launched The White House Report on Mental Health Research Priorities, a federal initiative to study mental health issues intensively. These resources can guide us as we continue to navigate the challenges that psychiatric and neurocognitive disorders present, including within the homeless population. 

In the meantime, let us utilize those evidence-based practices that we know do work to help those experiencing homelessness. Sweeps, criminalization, court orders, and policing are not solutions. New York has led the nation in continuously affirming a right to shelter. We must continue our leadership by spearheading a path toward the compassionate and humane provision of permanent, appropriate, supportive housing for all in need.

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Dr. Mary McLaughlin, PhD, is an advocate and researcher focused on disability and homelessness.

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New York State Failed to Deliver on Housing — New York City Must Step Up


Mayor Adams talks housing (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


Once upon a time - also known as January 10 - Governor Kathy Hochul presented her vision for New York State. The centerpiece of her agenda was her New York Housing Compact, the most aggressive and ambitious plan to tackle the housing crisis in recent memory. The compact had flaws — tenant protections and affordability benchmarks were largely absent in the proposal. But the plan to mandate municipalities increase their housing supply and a target goal of building 800,000 units in a decade were right on track. They are appropriate positions to meet the needs of solving our housing crisis head-on.

But four months later, the compact is still only a proposal, as both houses of the State Legislature refused to come to agreement on its key components during state budget negotiations. The only real push in recent memory to address New York’s housing shortage has at best been stalled, and any major efforts from Albany to address the housing crisis will likely not happen until next year, and that is no guarantee.

But this does not mean nothing can be done to solve our housing crisis this year. Just because state government was unwilling to address the housing crisis does not mean New York City Hall has to sit idly by and concede defeat. With the state's inability to deliver solutions, now is the time for New York City to step up and act on its initiatives to address our crippling housing shortage and rising rents. Fortunately, there are positive signs from city leaders and a handful of proposals in the offing.

Hochul’s goal to produce 800,000 units of new housing statewide in the next decade might be on pause, but Mayor Eric Adams’ benchmark of 500,000 new units of housing in New York City in that time is still alive. The mayor’s effort is in part reliant on state action that is not yet happening, but there is still a good deal the city can control.

It is a high bar to clear, as it would be the highest rate of housing production since the 1920s — but with the supply shortage in the city, a bar of that caliber is necessary. In December, the Adams administration outlined this vision in his Get Stuff Built plan, with over a hundred proposals designed to speed up and streamline housing construction. These proposals — from expediting the pre-certification process for rezoning applications  to adjusting the environmental review process and standards — are necessary to get more housing in the pipeline and to make new housing production feasible.

With his Get Stuff Built plan, the City of Yes: Housing Opportunity zoning text amendment in development, and more, Mayor Adams has meaningful housing initiatives in his arsenal. Given the state taking a back seat on housing, these plans are needed more than ever. Adams should move aggressively to push these proposals, as well as initiating additional neighborhood rezonings — something that he has been rather quiet on in his tenure.

Mayor Adams is not the only one to pitch aggressive proposals, and he should take up willing partners. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has identified more than 170 sites across Manhattan to redevelop for housing as well as 9 sites for rezoning to accommodate more housing stock, which he says would result in 73,000 new units of housing. His plan was so popular that instead of the backlash he may have expected, Levine received suggestions from residents pointing to additional locations they thought new housing should rise. 

Levine has provided a framework for every borough president to address housing shortages in their borough, and while none has yet to perform the same type of study, several others have professed their commitment to housing growth and are taking steps toward making it happen.

Even a couple of community boards have jumped on the trend of standing for more housing — an encouraging sign, considering the track record of community boards being hostile towards new development. Manhattan Community Board 4 released a proposal that would inject tens of thousands of new housing units. And Manhattan Community Board 2, which had previously opposed the SoHo rezoning, implied that it wants to see an increase in the size of 388 Hudson Street, a 100% affordable housing development in the West Village.

For progressive legislators, one of the sticking points of the governor’s Housing Compact was its lack of tenant protections. Fortunately, a handful of tenant provisions are floating around City Hall, and already enacted measures are ripe for reinforcement.

The Fair Chance For Housing Act is currently before the City Council; it would bar landlords from discriminating against prospective tenants with criminal background checks, giving many more people, especially people of color, a better chance at good and stable housing. There are also existing programs, like Right to Counsel, experiencing chronic funding issues. Without the proper funding for Right to Counsel, eviction cases and vulnerable tenants slip through the cracks. Patching those holes could provide many vulnerable tenants fair representation in court and the opportunity to stay in their homes. 

While the State Legislature might be content with the status quo, the conversation around housing is changing in the city, and the seeds for meaningful improvement already exist. More aggressive action is needed, but there are several proposals that form a good start. Now is the time that ideas, proposals, and goals to alleviate the housing crisis must be turned into action.

But there is little by way of tangible legislation where it is needed. Despite many city leaders endorsing the Housing Compact, not much pressure has been applied to implement local solutions. Mayor Adams must quickly move his housing plans into action and show the public the results along the way, continuing to build support for advancing solutions. The City Council should also move to protect current and prospective tenants, implement the fair housing framework recently released by Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council members, and ensure that the next city budget includes essential funding for housing in many avenues, from affordable housing subsidies to tenant vouchers to staffing at key agencies.

It is important to remember that all the solutions the city could pass will not be enough. The lack of tenant protections is a fair critique, but Hochul’s Housing Compact offered a chance at real progress. Albany has the power to make sweeping changes to make it far easier for municipalities to solve the housing crisis.

That includes the broader planks of Hochul’s plan to require housing growth everywhere, especially around mass transit hubs, but also important specific policies like eliminating the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) cap on residential development in the city and legalizing accessory dwelling units. The lack of these policies will continue to hamper our ability to add much-needed supply to our housing stock.

The spotlight was shone brightest on the suburbs and vocal resistance to the plan, but New York City’s zoning landscape would have seen major changes too. While Hochul has said she will continue to fight for a housing plan in the future, advocates must continue to push for holistic changes at the state level. But it would be a tremendous disservice to vulnerable tenants and prospective residents if the city continues to wait for Albany to flip the switch.

Rents are still rising and flirting with records, the Rent Guidelines Board is considering significant increases on rent-stabilized apartments, more people cannot afford their rent comfortably, and housing construction is slowing. Even if City Hall is acting with one hand tied behind its back, our leaders need to do everything they can to keep people in their homes and get new homes built. The one hand the city does have accessible can still make meaningful changes to reverse these trends.

City leaders endorsing the Housing Compact is a good sign, but they cannot simply pass the buck to Albany or throw up their hands about the lack of state-led progress. As the old saying goes, If you want something done right, do it yourself.

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Austin Celestin is a rising senior at New York University studying Urban Design and Journalism.

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Plunge in New York Tax Receipts Could Foreshadow Budget Deficit Just as Fiscal Year Begins


Gov. Hochul talks budget (photo: office of Governor Hochul)


Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature finished passing the 2023-2024 state budget on May 3, about a month after the April 1 start of the fiscal year. The budget includes generous increases in funding for schools, health and mental health care, the MTA, and more. The budget is, of course, intended to be balanced, but a New York State Comptroller April 2023 cash report, issued May 16, showed a major plunge in April tax receipts from the prior year, raising concerns about a developing budget deficit for this fiscal year as it’s just beginning.

The report comes early in the new fiscal year and includes tax returns filed by April 15, showing a 49% drop in income tax revenue compared to April 2022, falling from $14 billion to $7 billion.

Another report from Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office, released May 18 on the enacted state budget, says that April tax collections overall (including sales, corporate, and other) were $4.4 billion below predictions issued by the State Division of the Budget (DOB) just a few months ago.

The DOB had already forecast a drop in collections compared to April 2022, but the actual collections were still 39% below forecast. There is no official prediction yet of a sudden large deficit opening up in the state budget, but these numbers and other indicators tell me a big hole is highly likely.

The Comptroller’s analysis of the decline offers insight into why a deficit may have already opened, with this statement (my underline) on page 8 of the report:

“Although only a month into the new fiscal year, April tax collections may be a cause for concern, particularly in relation to the PIT [Personal Income Tax]. A large share of April PIT receipts is related to the settlement of the previous tax year as the majority of taxpayers file their annual returns during the month. These settlement collections are not based on current economic circumstances but those of last year. For example, they reflect the overall decline in the financial markets which impacted taxpayers’ investment income, such as dividends, interest, and capital gains. According to reports from the Department of Taxation and Finance, the net settlement for the 2022 tax year totaled $3.6 billion, 66.3 percent lower than that for 2021.”

As the Comptroller report points out, the tax revenue reduction in large part related to taxpayers’ income from 2022. It is past income, not present or even recent income. The basis for income in 2022 must have included large declines in capital gains income, concentrated heavily among the wealthy and related to declines in the stock market in 2022. The S&P 500 fell 19% in 2022.

According to the most recent information from the State Division of the Budget, in 2020, the top 1% of New York taxpayers were 53% of total nonwage income (capital gains, dividends, etc.) and 46% of New York State income tax liability, meaning drops in their nonwage income have major effects on New York’s tax receipts.

One possible confirmation that New York is headed for deficits comes from California. The state government there has announced it has a $32 billion deficit for its budget scheduled for adoption on July 1, 2023, an immense swing from large surpluses. California adopts its budget several months later in the year than New York, meaning it is getting more information about its tax receipts now than New York relied upon several months ago when it built the assumptions for its own budget. California’s economy suffered from major climate impacts in 2022, which is part of that story. California’s tax system, however, is similar to New York; its wealthiest taxpayers make up a large portion of the state’s tax revenue, and can be significantly affected by swings in the stock market.

A New York deficit of $4.4 billion would not provoke an immediate crisis because the State’s operating budget using State funds is $127 billion a year (of the $229 billion budget for the new fiscal year, which includes a lot of federal funds). The State has immense reserves, pegged initially at $19.5 billion, due in part to a surplus in the last fiscal year of nearly $9 billion, according to the last DOB update before adoption.

There is no evidence in New York that the current economy is declining; sales and corporate income tax receipts in April were normal, and withholding tax receipts from currently employed people did not decline. The State can backfill a deficit from its reserves.

A budget hole, however, could seriously exacerbate the State’s long-term challenges because budget forecasts project large deficits in the next three years, 2025-2027. State DOB budget gap forecasts are based on projected revenue and spending: in balance in 2023-2024, but deficits of $5 billion in 2025, $8.5 billion in 2026, and $7 billion in 2027 (see p.95 of the Updated New York Executive Budget, March 2023).

The State’s Financial Plans anticipate using its $19.5 billion in reserves to help cover those deficits in coming years, and those deficits add up to over $20 billion. But if the State needs reserves to cover even a $5 billion deficit this year, it will run out of its reserves that much more quickly. Any new weakness in New York’s economy will accelerate the State’s deficits.

After Governor Hochul issued her proposed budget, the Legislature’s own plans would have added $4 billion in spending above her budget. The Governor and the Legislature finalized the budget with only an extra $2 billion above the Governor’s proposal. The Governor deserves credit for getting the Legislature to exercise some restraint on spending, especially now that the risks of a hole in the budget are so substantial.

It may be some months before the Governor and the State Division of the Budget acknowledge a current-year deficit. There will be enough money this year to cover it, barring a disaster. I was in the Legislature in 2008 when then-Governor David Paterson called us back in December of that year to address an $18 billion deficit that had opened in New York’s budget as the Great Recession began. Let’s hope nothing comparable happens this time.

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Jim Brennan was a member of the New York State Assembly for 32 years, where he chaired four committees. On Twitter @JimBrennanNY.

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This AAPI Heritage Month, Let’s All Take a Closer Look at Mental Health Care in Our Communities


"Tell Asian Stories" (photo: Don Pollard/Governor's Office)


As Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women, May is a month of celebration. It is also a time to highlight Mental Health Awareness and commemorate Mother’s Day. But while many of us are celebrating, some are coping with a gaping void left by those who died by suicide in the past year.

Though updated suicide statistics for 2022 are not yet available, we’ve seen the stories reported by community media outlets of individuals in our community who are no longer with us. It’s all heartbreaking.

Take Flushing, Queens, where Asians make up more than 70% of the population. At least four high-profile Asian women have died by suicide in the neighborhood since last May. What’s even more tragic is that family members or friends of most of them told the media that these individuals had shown some signs of distress before they were swallowed up by despair. As we know, these tragedies are often preventable if they had received proper care. But finding those necessary resources is not always easy for Asian American and immigrant women.  

Statistics and studies, although far from extensive, have shed light on AAPI women’s critical needs for mental health services through the years. For example, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health shows that suicide was the leading cause of death for Asian Americans aged 15-24 in 2017-2018, and Asian American girls, in grades 9-12, were 20% more likely to attempt suicide compared to their white peers. 

An annual survey released by MetroPlusHealth this month sounds another alarm. The latest data from the city-owned affordable health insurance entity finds that Asian women face greater mental health risk than many others. Despite recent attention on anti-Asian violence, 41% of respondents had been called a racial slur in the past year. This prejudice was not only from strangers. For example, 48% of participants said they have encountered racial discrimination in the workplace, almost double the average for women citywide. 

With the backdrop of these devastating statistics, there is a positive note – Asian women have gained a greater awareness of mental health issues. The vast majority of respondents, 77%, said they would encourage their family members and friends to seek professional mental health services, 10 percentage points higher than last year. While 84% agreed that talking to a mental health professional would positively impact their life, 16 percentage points higher than the previous year. 

However, whether higher risks and greater awareness can transfer to obtaining help successfully is another story. The survey finds only 45% of Asian women said they know a community-based organization providing mental health services in their preferred language. The importance of linguistic and cultural competency in mental health services for immigrants and immigrant communities cannot be emphasized enough. How do you explain your sadness or trauma in your native language? How do you express and accept affection when it is not a cultural practice?  

The solutions are coming from community groups and healthcare providers who lower the difficulty of seeking help. To close the language gap, the Asian American Federation created a mental health directory serving nearly 18,000 people with a list of in-language professionals in various neighborhoods throughout New York City to ensure every Asian New Yorker who needs mental health care is able to receive it in the language they are most comfortable speaking.  

While providing access to professionals is a priority, we must also work towards more transparent conversations at home. In traditional Asian families, regular usage of the word “love” is unusual, and the term “mental health” simply doesn’t exist in many Asian languages and dialects — and when it does, the counterpart often carries significant stigma. This is where representation can make an impact. 

The AAPI community has a long road ahead of us in tackling the mental health gap.  For us, perhaps the journey can start this month with some simple steps. Hug your mom, tell her you love her and ask how she’s feeling. Open the lines of communication that normalize expressions of affection and care. It is also our hope that more people in broader society will work towards language inclusivity and accessibility to make mental health resources more equitable. That way, next May and thereafter all Asian grandmothers, mothers, and daughters who should be here to celebrate will be here.

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Luna Liu is marketing manager of MetroPlusHealth, a New York City-based nonprofit health insurance company. Jo-Ann Yoo is executive director of the Asian American Federation. On Twitter @MetroPlusHealth & @AAFederation.

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Endangered Species Day: How New Yorkers Can Help Heal the Animals, Heal the Earth


Animal awareness (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council)


May 19 marks Endangered Species Day, a time when people around the world focus on animals who are in grave danger of becoming extinct or soon endangered.  

This year is especially poignant, as it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act — landmark legislation conserving wildlife, fish, and plants, as well as habitats. 

Even New York City is home to two species of wildlife that are considered endangered or vulnerable. The impossibly cute and endangered piping plover bird, with its round body, tiny size, and charming features, has recently seen a resurgence on New York City beaches thanks to the efforts of wildlife conservationists and concerned citizen volunteers. Horseshoe crabs are a familiar sight along the beaches of Brooklyn, but many do not know that these crustaceans are considered vulnerable on the IUCN List of Threatened Species. Both of these species face pressures from habitat loss and destruction, as well as human disturbance.  

I hope you will find inspiration to take action during this day, celebratory month, and beyond — because the stakes have never been higher and consequences more dire, for wildlife and for humans, too. 

Our leading scientists say we are at a crossroads, facing potential catastrophic damage to ecosystems with loss of biodiversity around the globe reaching crisis levels, according to this year’s report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

Animal populations have declined by nearly 70% in the last 50 years due to the compounding effects of human activity, including overhunting and exploitation of animals, habitat destruction, and environmental pollution. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres captured the situation well when he said, “humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction” during opening remarks for the most recent global biodiversity summit. 

The good news is we still have time to choose protection over destruction; to shepherd in a new era of respect for all animals as we share the same destiny driven by human actions. 

As the New York state director for the nonprofits Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy, and a resident of Brooklyn, I am part of several current campaigns and hope one or more may be of interest, because there is no better time to step up and be a part of promoting the health of animal lives. There is so much needless cruelty done to animals that is harming not just our human souls, but the web of life that defines the planet as a whole. If we heal the animals, we heal the Earth. 

Get the Lead Out of Our Wildlife
Nearly half of our bald and golden eagles are suffering and many dying just this past winter from toxic levels of lead — one of the most dangerous pollutants causing adverse effects on wildlife today and potentially harming population growth and leading to extinction of sensitive species. You can help. Learn about the dangers of lead ammunition and fishing tackle left in the environment and food chain. 

Protect Apex Predators to Boost Biodiversity
Science tells us quite clearly that our top predators — wolves, mountain lions, and bears — serve key ecological roles in safeguarding biodiversity. According to one study in Mammal Review, “Large, terrestrial carnivores are key regulators exerting strong and irreplaceable effects on biological community assemblages, and their absence can lead to fundamentally downgraded ecosystems.” Instead of wiping them out, as humans have done throughout history, we need to respect and protect them. Learn more about how to help. 

Mass Killing is Not Conservation
Independent scientists and academics are rightfully concerned that the largest massacre of land mammals on the planet today — the inhumane slaughter of kangaroos in the wild — is putting wildlife at risk. My organization has been wildly successful at convincing two of the leading three sport shoe manufacturers — Nike and Puma — to stop sourcing kangaroos as material to make soccer cleats. Tell Adidas that it too must stop supporting the largest massacre of land mammals on the planet today. 

Factory Farm Pollution Touches Us All
Besides being cruel, industrialized factory farming has caused irreparable harm to healthy ecosystems and wildlife by polluting our air, water, and land. You can take part in meaningful reform by telling your Congressional representatives that they can stop the inhumane confinement of pigs in gestation stalls. And help to end the hyperproduction of dairy cows by telling your legislators to provide a simple choice of soy in our nation’s public school cafeterias. 

All New Yorkers can feel good about their experiences and engagement during this year’s Endangered Species Day and beyond.

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Susan Stork is New York State Director of Animal Wellness Action. On Twitter @awaction_news.

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The QueensWay is Good for Students and Learning; Let’s Get It Built


Queensway rendering (Trust for Public Land)


As Co-Principals of the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS) in Forest Hills, Queens, we place learning through outdoor experiences at the heart of our curriculum. We send our students out across the city and beyond, bringing in experts to give science, history, and other subjects real-life relevance.

Frustratingly, there’s a huge, unused outdoor classroom sitting right in our backyard. Bureaucratic indecision has stymied progress on turning the QueensWay, a railway line abandoned 60 years ago, into a thriving park.

It has now been a dozen years since we, ourselves, first got involved in intensive community discussions about it. We engaged a now-adult generation of former MELS students in shaping the future of the project together with many members of the local community.

Mayor Eric Adams did recently announce $35 million for the first phase of QueensWay. It’s for a section that adjoins our property and comes right up to the back of our school.

In the years since that past generation of our students first got involved in conversations about the future of the project, they’ve grown up, gone to college, and are now living productive adult lives. We, meanwhile, may have a few more gray hairs, but we haven’t given up hope on the tremendous potential of the QueensWay as an essential part of our students' learning experience. We’re glad the next generation of our students will get to benefit from the project while they’re still at school with us. It can’t happen soon enough.

The new entrance will give our students quick, safe access to the Forest Park area without having to walk across Union Turnpike, which is busy, has a small sidewalk, and is not conducive for large groups of students to safely walk. It will also give safe access to our school for many of our students who come from adjoining neighborhoods and currently have to cross other busy, wide, and dangerous roads like Woodhaven Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue. The QueensWay is a safer option and connects neighborhoods and subway stops.  

The outdoor classroom portion of the QueensWay will provide a unique opportunity for students to learn about the environment, sustainability, and urban design. We believe the project has the potential to inspire the next generation of environmental leaders, as well as landscape architects, scientists, gardeners, and so many other career pathways.

Our students will be able to explore the QueensWay and its unique mature forest of 60-year-old trees to learn about the plants and wildlife that call New York City home. They will also be able to learn about the history of the space and the communities that have used it in the past, as well as its current benefits of providing shade during hot summers and absorbing stormwater.

The QueensWay also offers a unique opportunity for our students to learn about the impact of human activity on the environment. By studying the QueensWay, our students will be able to see firsthand the effects of pollution, climate change, and other environmental challenges. It will help them understand the importance of sustainability and the need to take action to protect our planet.

The QueensWay will provide a space for our students to engage in experiential learning. They will be able to participate in service projects, such as planting trees, cleaning up litter, and improving the habitat for wildlife, ideally designing and caring for natural spaces that are directly connected to our school campus and to apply their learning in an authentic real-world format. These projects will help our students to develop a sense of responsibility for the environment and a commitment to making positive change in their community.

Finally, the QueensWay project offers an opportunity for our students to connect with the wider community. The QueensWay will be a public space that is open to all, and our students will be able to interact with people from different backgrounds and communities. This will help to foster a sense of community and understanding among our students, and it will help to build bridges between different communities in Queens. Let’s get it done.

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Hillary Mills and Damon McCord are Co-Principals at the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS) in Queens.

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It’s Time for New York State to Finally Address Our Literacy Crisis and Ensure All Kids Can Read


Kids at school (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


The literacy rate amongst children is at a crisis level: two-thirds of fourth-graders nationwide are unable to read proficiently. This represents a complete failure to prepare our students for the most basic of life skills, in part due to the continued use of flawed literacy instruction methods. 

New York’s proficient reading rates of 30% are even worse than the national average. While other states are taking significant steps to address the crisis, New York has not acted, still permitting teaching practices that have been thoroughly debunked, rather than those aligned with the science of the reading brain.

New York is also failing its teachers. Our teachers-in-training and current educators are not properly instructed on how to teach reading. School districts continue to use harmful curricula, including debunked “three cueing” strategies that emphasize looking at pictures and guessing the words. A whopping 75% of K-2 and elementary and special education teachers use three cueing despite decades of data proving it’s ineffective.. The vast majority of our colleges of education are training future teachers how not to teach kids to read. 

We know what works and simply have to stop using what doesn't. Children can and must be taught to understand and recognize letters and the sounds they make, so they can decode the words they encounter, and put words together to form sentences.

The 2000 National Report on Reading identified the five pillars of literacy instruction fundamental to teaching children how to read successfully. These pillars – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension – underpin the language-based approach to instruction that is referred to as “structured literacy.”  It emphasizes highly explicit and systematic teaching that has been proven successful in building literacy. This approach is even more critical to reaching kids with dyslexia and related learning disabilities. And here’s the thing: the brain research confirms it.

Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Department of Education (DOE) recently announced the biggest overhaul to reading instruction in the public school system’s history, set to begin this fall. This initiative will require city schools to select one of three curriculums that follow the science of reading. This is a promising step, and the state should follow this lead. 

This week, students, families and educators gathered in Albany again to urge the State Legislature, the State Education Commissioner, and the Governor to address these issues. We held our 8th Annual Dyslexia Awareness Day at the Capitol to share personal experiences and champion legislation to combat this literacy crisis.

One such solution is my “So All Can Read” bill to train future teachers in the science of reading. A recent report by the Education Trust - NY revealed that a major barrier to resolving this persistent problem has been the failure of our colleges of education to align their instruction with the science of reading. Other legislative solutions include a bill to screen incarcerated individuals for dyslexia and a dyslexia task force. 

Inaction has consequences. Reading scores for Black, brown, and low-income students are even lower than the national average. Students who do not reach a fourth grade reading level are more likely to drop out of high school, be unemployed, live in poverty, or face incarceration. Serious policy changes are needed or we risk continuing to leave our children behind and fueling the school-to-prison pipeline. 

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Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon is a former teacher of deaf students (which requires language-based approaches), won a landmark disability rights case to secure testing accommodations for an individual with dyslexia on the NY Bar Exam, and served as president of the NY Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (now called Everyone Reading). On Twitter @JoAnneSimonBK52.

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