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This Week's Stories GG's quick takes on recent NYC news |
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Week of 29 October 2001:
The Final Debate Green said the rebuilding of downtown should be overseen by an agency that included both city and state officials "to cut through the red tape and the bureaucracy and immediately start digging and rebuilding." Bloomberg said there was no rush to rebuild, and that the city should be in sole charge. "Adding a level of bureaucracy adds absolutely nothing." Asked to list three things each could do as mayor to ensure New Yorkers' safety, Bloomberg said 1. keep the public informed. 2. have the police force, working with the federal government, "ensure our safety." 3. have people "exercise some common sense but go about their normal lives." Green answered 1. appoint a deputy police commissioner for counter-terrorism. 2. "protect the public health function of the Health Department," including "disease surveillance." 3. Have more "points of departure: "So if something bad happens, everybody knows where to go for vaccines." On education, Green said the priority should be reducing class size, Bloomberg increasing teachers' pay. Green said there should be "more computers and technology in the classrooms." Bloomberg said the emphasis should be on basic skills such as reading and math, not computer literacy. For a partial transcript, go to Searchlight on Campaign 2001.
Haunted Halloween Meanwhile, anthrax concerns heightened yesterday as Kathy T. Nguyen, a 61 year old hospital stockroom employee, died, becoming the first New Yorker to die of anthrax and the fourth fatality from inhalation anthrax in the country in recent weeks. Investigators continue to probe how she might have contracted the disease. One theory is that a handful of tainted letters may have contaminated others distributed in the city.
Ripple Effect Historic Debate
Seven Weeks Later In the latest in a pattern that is too frightening to become familiar, a 61-year-old Bronx woman has tested positive for inhalation anthrax, the most serious and potentially lethal form of the disease. It is the first such case of this more dangerous form of anthrax in New York. The woman worked near the basement mailroom of the New York Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital on East 64th Street, and the hospital has been shut down. This is not the only area hospital affected by the aftermath of September 11th. Hospitals in New York City have lost $367 million, most of it from a dramatic decrease in patient admissions, according to the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation and the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade organization In the wake of a warning by the FBI that a new terrorist attack may be imminent, Governor George Pataki has ordered that the 470 troops guarding Ground Zero, area airports, Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and other spots be carrying loaded weapons by the end of the week. Though security is promised to be heavy, the usual mass events of autumn in New York are continuing. The Halloween parade will proceed tomorrow night and the New York City Marathon on Sunday. In a show of support, President George W. Bush is expected to attend Game 3 of the World Series in Yankee Stadium tonight. Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said, "it's going to be one of the safest spots in town, so everybody should go to the game and have a great time." In the past seven weeks, hundreds of thousands of homes in the New York area have remained unable to receive more than two television stations, according to the Times, because the other stations had their main antennas atop one of the Twin Towers. Lines at the city's 1,200 soup kitchens and food pantries have grown longer since the attack, as thousands more New Yorkers have become unemployed, the Daily News reports. Eight schools close to the Twin Towers were forced to shut down, and only two have been able to reopen. But their plight and that of the city in general moved people around the world to write letters, send gifts (an elementary school in Japan sent 7,000 origami cranes; Oklahoma City and St. Louis sent 40,000 teddy bears), and donate money to the New York City school system. In the seven weeks since the World Trade Center attacks, the Board of Education has collected $1.1 million. Heartening as this is, it does not begin to address the disaster's effect on the schools, according to Schools Chancellor Harold Levy, who has asked the federal government for $300 million in disaster relief aid.
The Rebuilding Maze Although financial incentives may need to be in place soon, architects, designers and planners are cautioning the city and developers to move slowly on rebulding on the trade center site, Newsday writes. Before any plan is made final, these experts say, builders should have a clear sense of what is best for the city and listen to the voices of the community. |
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