Week of 21 May 2001:
The Vieques 4
When the four New York politicians traveled to the Puerto Rican island of
Vieques on May 1 to participate in the latest series of protests against the
Navy bombing there, they expected to be arrested, and they were, for
trespassing. What they did not expect was that the federal judge, instead of
fining them, would send them to jail.
Judge Jose Antonio Fuste in San Juan on Wednesday sentenced the Rev. Al
Sharpton to 90 days in jail, and gave 40 days to Bronx Democratic
Organization boss Roberto Ramirez, Assemblyman José Rivera and City
Councilman Adolfo Carrión Jr., a candidate for Bronx borough president.
Yesterday, the governors both of New York and Puerto Rico said that the
sentences were excessive. The United States Justice Department, after
appeals from local U.S. congressmen Charles Rangel and Jose Serrano, agreed
that all four could serve their sentences in New York. If the sentences are
not reversed or reduced on appeal, Serrano said he would ask President Bush
to pardon the four.
The Naval 6,000
Whether or not this is an ironic coincidence, some 6,000 sailors, soldiers
and marines are coming to New York for Fleet Week, an event dating back at
least to 1893 and intended to celebrate the naval services.
Democrats
With Senator James Jeffords from Vermont having announced yesterday that he
will leave the Republican Party, the Democrats are now the majority party in
the United States Senate. This may have a positive impact on New York,
according to a report in The Crain's Insider, because Democratic Senator
Charles Schumer from New York is now in line to chair two subcommittees, of
the Banking Committee and the Judiciary Committee respectively. The other
U.S. Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, though just a freshman,
has a shot at chairing a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works.
The Aging Apple
A bubbling water bomb under Manhattan could enable the
city to test new technologies that may lead to fewer
trenches disrupting city life. The trouble spot is the
decrepit water main beneath the west side of Fifth
Avenue, which is too old to live with and too vital to
live without.
The New York Observer
reports that officials want to resuscitate a defunct
section of the Madison Avenue water main to provide
the added flow while the Fifth Avenue main goes on the
disabled list. But the Madison Avenue pipe is in worse
shape than its neighbor, and no one wants to tear up
Madison. Doug Greeley of the Department of
Environmental Protection envisions inserting a new
lining in the pipe using the trenchless technologies
popular abroad. These require the digging of access
pits rather than huge yawning trenches. A contract to
clean and test the Madison main could be put out this
summer.
In other infrastructure news, the new $1.4 billion
Terminal 4 opens today at Kennedy Airport, replacing
the old International Arrivals Building, which is
being demolished.
The Times
reports that arriving passengers will be greeted by
three large and intriguing art installations,
including "New York Streets" by Deborah Masters, a
100-yard long series of panels depicting life in the
city's neighborhoods.
In Poor Health
Twenty-seven community health clinics located primarily in low-income
neighborhoods may close unless more money can be found in the city budget.
Yesterday, the Health and Hospitals Corporation told the City Council that
it expects a $313 million deficit in its budget in part because of the cost
of treating an increasing number of uninsured patients. City Councilmembers
questioned the priorities in the budget proposed by the Mayor. "We wake up
everyday to a story of a clinic closing, and at the same time we hear of a
new extension being built in the Guggenheim," said East Harlem Councilmember
Phil Reed. In the end, the state must approve the closure of the health
clinics.
Nod Of the Bosses
This week, the Queens political machine gave its formal endorsements for
mayor, borough president, public advocate, comptroller and members of the
City Council - all in two minutes, thirty seconds. What lasting impact will
these endorsements have on the races? Bob Liff explains in a
Gotham Gazette
feature.
Changes
Newly released statistics from the 2000 census show many changes in who
lives in the city and how, with the biggest increase in the size of the
average household in half a century. The percentage of New Yorkers living
alone declined slightly, to just under 32 percent. The average household
size in the city rose to 2.59 people per household, a figure close to the
national average.
Much of this increase had to do with crowded immigrant households. The
number of Asians and Latinos has sharply risen in the city, but the number
of Puerto Ricans specifically has fallen. With a population of 789,172, New
York's Puerto Rican community is at its smallest since the 1960s, comprising
only about 37 percent of the city's Latinos. The number of Mexicans has
tripled to about 180,000, making them the third largest group of Latinos
(after Puerto Ricans and Dominicans). Nearly 800,000 New Yorkers, one in 10,
are now Asian, a growth of 54 percent in the last ten years. The Indian
population in Queens, for example, nearly doubled, to 109,114.
New Times Head
Howell Raines, currently editor of the editorial page, will succeed Joseph
Lelyveld as executive editor of the New York Times, who will step down in
September, seven months ahead of The Times's mandatory retirement age for
top executives.
Gracie Mansion, Monday's Episode
In continuing events in the divorce case officially known as Anonymous v.
Anonymous, a judge has barred the mayor's good friend Judith Nathan from
Gracie Mansion, saying it serves no "public or governmental interest" to
allow her to be there. The judge also ruled that Nathan's presence is not in
the best interest of the two children of the mayor and his estranged wife.
Later that day, the mayor's 91-year-old mother was rushed to the hospital
for an undisclosed ailment. Both the mayor and his wife went to the hospital
to visit. The mayor angrily asked his wife to leave. His wife refused.
JFK Makeover
A $1.4 billion replacement for the International Arrivals Building at the
John F. Kennedy Airport is scheduled to have its grand opening this week,
with artwork (including 28 large bas-reliefs depicting scenes of New York),
144 check-in lines, and a shopping mall four blocks long.
Endorsement Season
Labor unions, political clubs, county party organizations and politically
engaged individuals have been making their endorsements for mayor and for
members of the City Council, in a process that is heating up this week. (See
Searchlight on Campaign 2001 for some details).
Failing Tests
In the second of
two articles, the Times looks at
the fall-out from the error in a standardized test that hit New York City
the hardest. It sent about 9,000 students to summer school who did not
belong there, and worse, because the test results showed (incorrectly) that
reading scores had not risen in the city, it was a factor in the departure
of then Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew. "Before the mistake was discovered,
Dr. Crew had been a leading advocate for using standardized tests to hold
students and educators accountable," Jacques Steinberg and Diana B.
Henriques report. "But now, as Congress is poised to vote on a presidential
proposal that would sharply increase the nation's reliance on standardized
testing, Dr. Crew says he has been chastened by his personal experience with
the testing industry. 'The answer is not to use test scores as the sole
source of information about a student's performance,' he said. 'These are
human errors. They're going to happen again.'"
Last week's stories...
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