This Week's Stories
GG's quick takes on recent NYC news


Week of 30 April 2001:

Not Out In Force
New York has the least diverse Fire Department of nine large cities, according to reports by the Equal Employment Practices Commission and office of the Public Advocate. Less than 4 percent of city firefighters are African-American, 3 percent are Latino, and less than 1 percent (just 29 firefighters total) are female. By comparison, 40 percent of Los Angeles firefighters are people of color. The reports said the Fire Department scheduled entrance examinations too infrequently, failed to verify applicant claims of city residency, and did poor recruiting in each of the boroughs. The Fire Department hiring record also trails other city agencies like Corrections, Police, and Sanitation. Fire officials said the findings show a historical imbalance and do not reflect the progress the department has made in recent years, which includes the fact that the last graduating class was the most diverse ever.

New Power
Some 300,000 immigrants voted for the first time ever in New York last November, boosting turnout to 66.7 percent of the city's registered voters, up from 57.5 percent in the 1996 presidential election. The survey, conducted by Barnard College, found a total of 450,000 first-time voters last fall. Margie McHugh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, predicts even more naturalized citizens could turn out at polling places in this year's city elections since many immigrants are running for office.

Another Art Controversy
After a four-year investigation that has rocked the art world, Alfred Taubman, former chairman of Sotheby's, and Anthony Tennant, who held that post at Christie's, were indicted by a Manhattan grand jury yesterday on federal antitrust charges. The two men allegedly masterminded a scheme in which the giant auction houses fixed commission fees charged to customers selling fine art, jewelry and furniture. The companies have already paid out $500 million to settle a civil suit; Taubman, a powerful real estate developer, has resigned from Sotheby's; and the firm received a $45 million fine after pleading guilty to price-fixing charges. Meanwhile, the Times reports that the Justice Department art investigation is "continuing in other directions".

Housing Mentally Ill Makes Sense
Providing housing for homeless people with mental illness is not only the right thing to do, it is also cost effective. According to a new study by the University of Pennsylvania, it costs New York $40,000 a year to provide housing and medical care for a mentally ill homeless person. A person left to fend for themselves uses about the same amount in public services, most of it from hospitals and homeless shelters. The five-year study used computer records from New York State and city agencies to review the histories of almost 5,000 homeless people in supportive housing, then compared the results against a control group of homeless people who received no housing. The number of homeless people living on the streets in New York City has declined since 1980, but advocates say that the 1,500 supportive-housing units proposed in the budget needs to be increased to 10,000 units to meet the present need.

Racial Profiling
The New York District of the Immigration and Naturalization Service routinely engages in racial profiling, according to an investigation in the New York Times. As Susan Sachs reports: "A review by The New York Times of 37 I.N.S. work site raids in the district showed that agents frequently cited skin color, use of Spanish, foreign accents and clothing "not typical of North America" as primary evidence that workers were likely to be undocumented." This, say federal officials, may violate federal guidelines.

Bad Air
Power plant officials continue to object to a City Council bill that seeks to regulate the emission of carbon dioxide, a gas that is said to cause global warming, even though the Council changed the bill to address their concerns, Newsday reports. The bill, sponsored by Council Speaker Peter Vallone, marks the first time that a city has attempted to regulate the pollutant, which is not regulated by state or federal environmental agencies. But an official at the energy company KeySpan said the bill "amounts to a tax on electric costs that will have little environmental benefit," and other officials testified yesterday that any regulations should be on a national level. President Bush, however, has dropped his campaign promise to regulate the gas.

Meanwhile, the Daily News reports, New York's air is among the worst in the nation, according to a new study by the American Lung Association, based on statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency. The city was ranked 15th worst, up from 16th last year, with "bad air days" (47 a year in Manhattan and Staten Island; 27 in Queens) affecting about 1.2 million New Yorkers. About a sixth of all New Yorkers suffer from chronic breathing problems like asthma, conditions that are aggravated by smog.

Birthday
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey turns 80 today, just a few days after it has given up the World Trade Center, signing an agreement with New York developer Larry Silverstein that will have him pay $3.22 billion for a 99-year-lease to manage it. The twin towers are among the colossal construction projects that the Port Authority has undertaken over the years, including some of the city's most magnificent bridges and tunnels. But now, says its chairman, Lewis Eisenberg, it will go from master builder back to its "core mission" of planning transportation between the two states. The hope, says critics and supporters alike, is that it will recover from a weakened reputation of recent years and regain its luster.

Rent Board
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is reportedly ready to oust the chairman of the Rent Guidelines Board just as it begins today debating the size of this year's rent increases for the city's one million rent-stabilized apartments. The plan is to replace Edward Hochman, who has been chairman since 1994, with a former Giuliani aide, Steven Sinacori. The mayor is said to have been irked by the size of last year's increase.

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