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


Week of 28 May 2001:

State Budget
For the 17th year in a row, the state budget is late. Now Governor George Pataki is saying there might not be a budget this year. Determined to keep down spending during a year in which the state might face a downturn in the economy, and the governor definitely will face re-election, Pataki say he is prepared operate the government indefinitely on emergency spending measures in order to keep spending down. The Democrats accuse him of wanting to save money so that he can spend it next year during his campaign, according to the New York Times.

New V Line
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously approved its controversial plan, to create a new V line, and cut the G line and reroute the F line.

Minus and Plus
If Johnny can't add, blame his teachers, an expert panel says. More than three quarters of city eighth graders failed last year's state math exam largely because math teachers lack adequate training, the commission appointed by Schools Chancellor Harold Levy concluded. Less than two thirds of middle school math teachers are certified.

The commission proposed the creation of a more demanding high school math program for students who want it. Calling the high school curriculum "adequate for now," the panel said it does not ready students for college-level math, science, architecture, nursing and even law. The recommendation, which Levy endorsed, would create a new two-track system for math, just as the State Board of Regents has begun abolishing the old two- track system.

Housing Campaign
A broad array of organizations will hold a press conference at City Hall at 11 a.m. today to launch their Housing for All New Yorkers Campaign. The Housing First! coalition is calling for a $10 billion housing development program to meet what it terms "a severe and growing housing crisis."

Handshake On Health
According to the New York Times, federal and the state government officials have reached an agreement that will provide medical care for 600,000 uninsured New Yorkers. The new plan, which will cost an estimated $1.1 billion over the next three and a half years, will cover low income adults who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid benefits, but who do not receive medical coverage from their employers. New York State will pay for its share of the bill with money from the tobacco settlements and additional taxes on cigarettes. Enrollment in the plan will begin this fall.

Vieques
Thousands rallied in Puerto Rico, and hundreds rallied in Brooklyn, to show support for the Vieques Four, the four prominent New York politicians given jail time for their 20-minute protest on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, who are now serving their time in a federal prison in Brooklyn. The Reverend Al Sharpton, who was sentenced to 90 days, said he would start a hunger strike to publicize the bombing exercises that the Navy conducts on Vieques.

School Custodians
Thanks to what Board of Education officials deem a strange provision in custodian contracts (requiring them to have stationary engineer licenses), there is a shortage of school custodians; about 15 percent of the 1,100 public schools in New York City are without full-time custodians, the Times reports. Base salaries for the city's 900 school custodians can be as high as $92,000 a year, while teacher salaries are no more than $70,000.

Chase Chase
Though two banks, Citibank and Chase, control nearly half of all deposits in the New York area, many out-of-town banks are trying to challenge their dominance of the city's consumer banking business. Banks such as Commerce, the FleetBoston Financial Corporation and North Fork Bancorp are opening new branches and Automatic Teller Machines, and offering better service and longer hours. They see opportunity because mergers have resulted in many branch closings; in the New York area over all, the number of bank branches relative to the region's population is among the lowest in the country.

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