![]() |
Simply click on the circle next to the answer you think is correct, and an answer will appear in the box below. Keep trying until you get the correct answer. To learn more about the subject, click on the Gotham Gazette story after each question.
![]() |
This is a quiz especially for Gotham Gazette readers who want to challenge their own New York savvy. They are not the exact same questions as those offered in the professional licensing examination for tour guides, but they tap into the same vast treasure trove of New York City legends and lore. (For more about the actual test for tour guides, read Testing the Tour Guides)
Simply click on the circle next to the answer you think is correct, and an answer will appear in the box below. Keep trying until you get the correct answer.
Three articles in this series:
Testing The Tour Guides
The Tour Guides Complain
Test Your NYC Knowledge
The Budget Game is no longer at this location. You will be automatically redirected to the correct page. If you are not redirected, click on the following url:
http://www.gothamgazette.com/budgetgame/
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
A System in Need of Reform
Patronage, payoffs, complexity, and appointments vs. elections in the New York judiciary.
The Courts of New York Explained
An overview by Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman -- first published here three years ago, but nothing much has changed.
I came to this country from Yemen, Arabia at the age of three. I remember it was a cold March night, and when I woke up the morning after we had arrived in upstate New York, I looked outside the window and saw, to my delight, that there was sugar everywhere, sugar covering the streets and all the trees. My father said "no, honey, it's not sugar, it's snow." I did not understand what it was since I had never seen it. He opened the window and he let me touch it and I said "well, can I taste it?" Of course it did not taste like sugar, but I loved that I could play in it.
But not everything about America was as sweet. At first, I did not speak English, and the other children laughed at me. I learned the language quickly after that, and at a young age I became the interpreter for my mother and father when they needed to go to the doctor or to any other appointment. As I grew up, I faced great difficulty searching for my identity as an Arab-American. I remember one year, I decided to put a henna design on my hand for my Arabic friend's wedding party. At school, my teacher sent me to the bathroom to wash my hands even though I told her it would not come off. Because of the design, my classmates would not hold my hand or touch anything that I had touched. Another time, I went to school wearing the hijab, the headdress worn by Muslim women. The whole day, one student after another taunted me.
I did not wear it again until I married and moved to New York City. That is when I noticed all over Brooklyn African American Muslims wearing the hijab. I admired them for their grace and beauty in their modest Islamic dress. They seemed comfortable and content with their presence in public. No one stared at them or made remarks about their appearance. I began to reflect about my religion and culture. How can American converts embrace a religion I was born into and I can't embrace it with pride? After a great deal of soul searching I decided to follow my heart and cover my hair. Wearing the hijab empowered me to reach my personal and professional goals. It gave me a high stature. People recognized and respected me for what I knew, not for my physical presence. Being a modern woman in traditional garb has made me a role model for young women across the city. I symbolize the co-existence of both worlds during a complex time. I came to realize that New York City is a place that is accepting of all cultures, races, colors and creeds. I finally found a place where I felt comfortable and could call home.
Still, when my daughter, at the age of nine, decided she would go to school wearing a hijab, I was worried. I prayed all day that history was not going to repeat itself. When she came home, I waited nervously to hear what had happened. "Mom," she said, "everyone liked my hijab. Everyone said I look beautiful in it."
My daughter, Shifa, is now 13 years old and wears her hijab all the time. She is your typical American girl whose passion is music and being on the phone with her friends, especially her best friend, who is Jewish. Shifa went to her bat mitzvah.
I also have two sons. The older one, Yusuf, decided to join the US Army three years ago. I was torn because I'm a person who loves peace. But this is what he wanted to do and so we supported his decision. However, now I say to myself I wish I had not supported him then. On September 11th, he was activated to report to his unit, and then was sent to Ground Zero. He has been there ever since. In the beginning, he was part of the rescue mission, and I waited anxiously by the phone every night hoping he would call. But he could only call every three or four days, which felt like months. What's worse, usually he called during the day, when we were away at work. He left a message on our answering machine: "Mom, Dad! It's Yousif. I'm okay. Don't worry about me. I'm eating better now and sleeping a little longer. I'll call you soon. I love you."
After he had been there two weeks, his job switched to patrolling the area. More recently he has been assembling telecommunication equipment.
I spend my days worrying about his physical and emotional well-being. He has experienced something that only grown men in the army usually experience, and he is only 19. I know he has shown his honor, love and dedication to his country, but my concern is, how do others perceive him? Do they recognize his deep commitment? Especially now, since Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians have become scapegoats for many frustrated people.
Recently Yousif came home for the night; it was the first time since the tragedy. His presence at the front door was a relief for sour eyes, but I almost did not recognize him. I thought, Oh my God, he could pass for his father's brother today, because this experience has actually made him look like he's aged at least five or ten years. When I asked him "how is it like there?", he couldn't talk about. And God only knows when he will be ready to talk about it. The evil doing of others has stripped my child's innocence on many levels. He remains with visions of destruction and uncertainty.
In the school where I teach, PS 261, students, teachers and parents have been incredible in the way they have been sensitive and supportive of the Arab and Muslim community. On September 13th, all of my colleagues and parents were very happy to see me at work; they all came over and hugged me and kissed me. A group of parents offered to escort the Arab and Muslim children to school for as long as needed. I ended up going out into the community to reassure Arab and Muslim parents that they need to send their children to school, that they should not worry about their safety there.
Since September 11th, I have been involved in so many projects to safeguard my Arab, Muslim and South Asian neighbors in Brooklyn. This all evolved from my membership in the Brooklyn Dialogue Project. It is a group of Jews, Palestinians, Muslims, Christians and others who meet on a monthly basis, just to talk about the issues of the world and give each other a sense of hope and support. Immediately after September 11th, some members of the dialogue called to check up on how my family and I were doing. Based on the concerns and issues I raised, I was invited by these members to go to their churches and synagogues and to speak on behalf of the Arab- American and Muslim communities in Brooklyn.
Arab- American and Muslim women have become very limited in their daily routines. I for one was a prisoner in my own home for almost a month after September 11th. I was afraid to go out in public alone because I wear the hijab. My husband became my escort; he drove me to work and drove me home. He did everything that I needed to get done outside because I feared for my safety, if not my life. We were afraid of having someone attack me physically or verbally. There have been many attacks in the city. Women wearing the hijab have been chased and had their hijabs pulled off. Many have been spat on. Gangs of teenagers beat three women in Brooklyn. One woman walking down the street with her child in a stroller was stoned with cans, bottles and trash. An Islamic school in Brooklyn was vandalized with eggs and dog droppings. Local businesses had their windows or awnings destroyed.
These are some of the incidents that have been reported. However, there are some that have not been reported. Many Arabs, Muslims and South Asian do not know enough English, or know enough about their civil rights, to make reports. Some fear being detained by police or discovered by their attackers. Many think that reporting what happened to them will not change anything. They feel isolated and outcast by New Yorkers in general. Many feel guilt and shame for what has happened, even though they had no involvement whatsoever in the hideous acts of terrorism.
Why can't all New Yorkers treat Arabs, Muslims, and South Asian with respect, love, trust, and compassion? Many of my friends at work and in My Aspiring Leaders Program at Baruch College fear for me as much as my family does. Many have asked me to take off the hijab in public and wear it when I get to work or class. I very much appreciated their concern and told them not to worry. But taking off the hijab was not something I would do. I cannot compromise when it comes to my beliefs. I would rather die than take it off. For me, it would almost be like asking me to walk around topless.
I am blessed to have such caring friends because they have not let me travel by foot or train alone. Many have extended themselves to support me emotionally and physically. Some are escorting me to work, college, and around the city. Others are calling on a continual basis to cheer me up and tell me how much I mean to them. Because of their continuous love and support, I was encouraged to start helping my community rather than stay home and feel sorry for myself. After speaking at different churches and synagogues, I realized that many people within the community did not know their Arab and Muslim neighbors on a social basis. So I decided to open my home to neighbors, friends and people I met at the churches and synagogues. I wanted them to get to know who we are and how much we have in common. I had over a hundred and thirty guests. Who are now good friends and allies.
This open house opened the doors for me to help my community on many levels. Many of my guests were very eager to help, such as the Christian Children's Fund. With their facilitation and moral support, members from Park Slope and myself were able to develop the Brooklyn Bridges Project, which offers to escort people who are afraid, makes legal and mental health referrals, and tries to educate people about Arabs, Muslims and South Asians. Another group with which I have become involved is developing with the help of expert educators from across the city a curriculum that will be distributed to New York City schools and universities. All this volunteer work has literally become a full time job.
What's important now is that we need to come together as a community to be educated and educate others as you would children: There are people who do bad things, but there are many people who do good things. We must get to know each other by speaking to one another. We need to make sure that everyone's voice is heard rather than silenced, to overcome our fears. We need to take this unfortunate event as a way to build bridges with the communities that are affected. We need to develop relationships with our Arab-American, Muslim and South Asian neighbors and merchants to develop understanding and insight. We need to show our solidarity by morally and ethically supporting their existence as Americans.
One of my Israeli guests said to me, "I have always wished to get to know an Arab on a personal level but had no idea how to go about it, thank you for opening your home, your life and your heart."
For those of you who are interested in finding more information about ways to promote understanding and justice, the following are some useful resources:
Debbie Almontaser is an Arab-American who wears the hjiab or head-covering of a devout Muslim. She is also a schoolteacher and a mother whose son is a soldier standing guard at Ground Zero. Above all, she is a New Yorker.
It is a sunny Saturday morning at Greenwich and Reade Streets, farmers' market day. There are lines at the fish stand and neighbors chat near bins of apples. In Washington Market Park a handful of small children and their parents kick a ball on the grass or jump into a pile of leaves. Facing north it looks like a typical fall day in Tribeca.
Turn around and the scene changes. Metal barricades guarded by police and National Guard block the street in front of the elementary school that has been closed for three months. Just beyond, at the end of the street, stands a burnt, black shell of jagged metal and a pile of rubble several stories high.
The aroma of wet leaves and cider in the air mixes with the persistent smell of acrid smoke.
Three months after disaster struck, this spot is an apt illustration of the residential areas that surround the World Trade Center site. Is it a neighborhood revived or one with a hole blown through the middle? Or is it both? To the extent that a neighborhood is like a village, this is a town without schools, without a library, without a central post office, and for some, without telephones.
"Our neighborhood was blasted," said Skip Blumberg, a longtime downtown resident, "Some people outside the neighborhood are recognizing it, but most people don't get it."
Many of the people who live in Tribeca to the north, the financial district to the south, and tucked into lofts hidden above store fronts around City Hall, have returned to their homes. Their apartments have been "professionally" cleaned by teams of day hire workers. Most keep their windows closed and remove their shoes at the door to avoid tracking dust inside. Air filters are the hottest item in home furnishing. Three months after they fled from the unimaginable, they have returned to live with the inescapable.
Post Towers
By Ann Farmer Cathy Langford was in the first stages of labor at her home in a 17-story apartment building at 75 West Street, which was two blocks from the World Trade Center. It was the morning of September 11. Somehow, despite all the chaos and the horror, with the help of her husband, Guy, she managed to get to a hospital. Her baby girl was born safely the next day, and the circumstances surrounding her birth make for a harrowing tale that they hope to tell their daughter when she is older. But the tale did not end then. The couple worried about what toxic dangers could be in the apartment's air or lodged in the furniture and carpet. Their concerns escalated after tests showed that asbestos fibers had been found within several blocks of Ground Zero. "We're not moving back," Guy says. "I don't want my daughter, on her 21st birthday, to learn that she has only six months to live." The family has moved to New Jersey. They are not alone. Another tenant, Pete Johnson, is in New Jersey too. Nobod y knows where everybody from 75 West Street has gone, but everybody knows that nobody is in their apartment building, which has a horribly appropriate name -- Post Towers. Three months after the collapse of the Twin Towers, the tenants of Post Towers are still not allowed back. The building itself suffered some slight structural damage, but they are being kept away because of the large amounts of dust and debris that blew into the apartments That, at least, is what several of the building's residents speculate. They do not know because, they say, the building's managers, J. Hill Associates, have not answered their letters or phone calls. Some tenants believe the company has deliberately withheld key information, including which apartments showed asbestos contamination above acceptable levels. (J. Hill Associates did not respond to our inquiries either). The tenants, though, have done their best to keep each other informed. They communicate daily with each another through an Internet messaging site. The Yahoo! site, which has about 200 members, has logged over 1,500 messages since it was started on September 16. The first message, written by the tenants who began the site, encourages the others to "make plans to be out of the apartment for at least another week." But eventually all hopes of a quick return fade into frustration and even disgust. In November, one resident asks if anyone has information on "any apartments for $2,600 a month available in Kabul." When the members are not struggling to sort out rumors, they discuss the building's cleanup and share tips on which hotels offer discounts and where to find emergency assistance. One person asks repeatedly if anyone knows whether the dry cleaning establishment across the street, which has many of her clothes, still exists. Managers for J. Hill Associates have also left messages at the site. A recent notice indicated that tenants may be allowed to return on December 15. However, the return date appears to hinge on results from air quality tests being conducted by environmental groups. J. Hill Associates also recently logged on to say they are giving all returning tenants a minimum 20 percent rent reduction and allowing them four months to break their lease with no penalty. But many tenants don't think that is enough, given declining rents across Manhattan. Residents are wary about what they may face if and when they return. Graphic designer Bill Kobasz, for one, expects a dramatic decline in his quality of life. Many restaurants and other businesses that made Tribeca a vibrant neighborhood have gone of out business. "And we're going to be living in a noisy construction zone for the next ten years," Kobasz adds, referring to whatever building eventually begins at the World Trade Center site. David and Ann Loring (and one of their cats) have been in the Tribeca Grand Hotel, living out of the suitcases they were toting on September 11 when both were out of town on business. David Loring says he and his wife are anxious to say good-bye to the hotel and be united with their other cats and one bird. However, they have mixed feelings about returning to the apartment to where they had moved just four months earlier. "Whereas my wife and I used to have a beautiful view of the World Trade Center," says Loring, "our apartment windows now look out on a scene of ruins that are a constant reminder of all people that perished that day." |
"You have this feeling that you should look at it, that you need to look at it," said Karen Bender, a writer who lives at Independence Plaza, "It's a weird balancing act. You want to honor the people who died, but you don't want your life defined by it."
Little by little that life is returning to normal. Most subways are running and much of the bus service has resumed. Preschools have started up again, although some are in makeshift temporary spaces.
But normal has also changed. There are persistent worries about the air quality and the dust being spread by the rubble removal. At several meetings, worried parents questioned doctors and scientists about long-term health effects. The answers were often as murky as the air itself. Repeated testing by government and private companies have found the same results, the levels of asbestos, dioxins, PCB's and other potential hazardous substances are below the acceptance range, but there are occasional spikes. And the experts add, there are some things we don't know yet.
A panel of pediatricians advised parents that they should not necessarily leave the area, but that they should limit the outdoor activities of young children. It is the air that has kept some residents away. Blumberg, a video producer with an 11-year-old son, has sublet an apartment in Brooklyn. "I don't need the EPA to tell me if the air stinks," he said.
For others, especially those who work in their homes or nearby studios, the biggest worries are financial. The available grants and loans often don't apply to artists, therapists, and others who do not readily fit into the usual business categories. Suellen Epstein has run tumbling classes for children in her Murray Street loft since 1978. Normally at this time of year, she says, she would have 16 to 18 classes a week. With many families still displaced or just moving back, she now has five classes, only two-thirds full. The children who would have come to her after school classes, now go to school out of the neighborhood.
She has been unsuccessful, she says, in getting financial aid for her business. "I am not an industry that gets any assistance," she said, "There is no reason I should be overlooked. I run a business that supports the community."
Lydia Dona an artist who lives at Duane and Hudson Streets says her home is fine, but her studio at Warren Street and West Broadway still has no telephone service. Her assistant quit after getting medical advice not to come to the area. Getting trucks in to move artwork has been unpredictable. Since the attack exhibitions have been canceled. "I have no income," she said, "Who knows how long it's going to last." She has been steered to apply for a SBA loan, but is reluctant to take on debt while customers are scarce. "No artist wants to take out a loan given what's going on."
New York State has been giving grants only to retailers and services businesses, such as dry cleaners or barber shops. In mid-November the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) started offering grants to non-retailers. Upon applying for an SBA loan a non-retailer can receive a grant of 15 percent of the loan requested up to $2,500. If approved for a loan, the city will kick in another 15 percent up to a total of $10,000 in grants.
Because the city plan is so new, it is too soon to tell who will qualify, but the rejection rate for SBA loans has been higher than in other disaster situations, according to both a representative of the EDC and Beth George, deputy chief of staff to city council member Kathryn Freed. In some cases, said George said, artists and other single practitioner businesses don't have the assets or collateral to secure a loan. "These people need grants not loans," she said. She hopes the Red Cross may provide assistance to those who fall through the cracks. "This is not a normal neighborhood," said Dona, "They cannot deal in conventional terms with unconventional businesses."
It is exactly because it is not a normal neighborhood that so many of the residents moved here in the first place and now are determined to stay. But some feel overlooked, even as reporters camped in front of their buildings or perched on their roofs. "You always worked with people's misconceptions," said Hartmann, who has lived in the area for 19 years, "from what you read you'd still think nobody lives here except in Battery Park City."
Residents also live with the psychological effects of hearing the planes crash, watching people jump from the flaming buildings and running for their lives when the towers fell. Psychologist Elizabeth Saenger, Ph.D, runs support groups in Independence Plaza for tenants who still have trouble sleeping or quelling their fears. "When people are traumatized they take longer to recover if there are reminders like sights and smells," she said.
Although their last view of the towers were filled with horror, many residents have memories of the World Trade Center complex as a vital piece of the neighborhood. "I did all my errands at the World Trade Center," said Dona, "the World Trade Center was for me a major part of my life, without working there." The Borders book store was a gathering spot for children at Tuesday morning story time and the concourse served as an indoor place space on cold or rainy days. The plaza was a place to stroll and hear free music on summer evenings. Bender remembers that it was when she was sitting near the fountain with her husband Robert that they decided on their son Jonah's name. Others speak of it as a lost friend or a lost limb. "There's like a whole part of my body that doesn't exist any more," said Epstein.
Still, most residents do not seem to want to rebuild the towers as they were. "Let's not be stupid about the way we do this and the kind of danger we put people in," said Hartmann. While residents recognize the economic need of replacing lost office space, they would like something more -- a symbolic area with a chapel for every faith and a new mall of stores. Bender would like a new indoor playspace for children. "It would be nice if they could do something that's not just about capitalism," she said.
Perhaps the most frequently expressed wish is for a park. Blumberg, who heads a group called the Friends of City Hall Park (which remains closed), has written up a proposal. "The sanctified park can send a strong message of peace to all the peoples of the world and to future generations," he wrote, "And a green space offers us what downtown needs most: fresh air and peace of mind."
Click here to read Madelyn Wils' "Give Us Back Our Neighborhood"
Laura DeMaio put down the phone with a pained expression on her face. Someone had just called her for help with a mortgage payment and had not even thought to apply for unemployment insurance. He had lost his job at the World Trade Center. "I thought I'd just get another job," he told DeMaio.
"That's the typical response I get," she said. "Most people don't even realize the economy is so bad, that they probably won't get a job so easily." DeMaio is a social worker at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, where I am the executive director. She handles dozens of phone calls every day, giving out emergency cash assistance. Requests are typically for the most basic needs -- coverage of rent or mortgages, outstanding medical bills or health insurance premiums, utility bills, food.
She administers to people who have always lived on the edge of poverty. But these days, she is receiving more and more calls from 9/11 victims. It is their needs, we know, that will eventually overburden the entire system
CHARITIES' DOUBLE BIND
Americans have shown themselves to be extremely generous, sending more than one billion dollars so far to New York after September 11. But New York charities are nevertheless taking it on the chin, caught in a double-bind, and things are only going to get worse.
As we know from the experience in Oklahoma City, when government aid tapers off, victims and their families will continue to require various forms of help, especially mental health counseling. These needs will be compounded by the recession, which will require them to look for job re-training, food aid, child care, and in some cases, shelter.
But ironically, according to advocacy groups, both private and public dollars are being diverted from these regular services, to newly created charities specifically devoted to, in the words of Melissa Aase of University Settlement House Project Home, "disaster funds, trauma, and the fallout of the WTC disaster."
With so many funds for victims, there has developed a kind of donor fatigue for other causes in New York, a city that is well known for its social consciousness and its glittering benefit season. In fact, public perception of priority needs at this time is intensely focused on victims of September 11, with little thought to long-term social service needs in a weakened economy.
The recession, the immediate and feared future losses of revenue, donor indifference, and severe budget cuts are putting nonprofits into survival mode. It is prime benefit season, yet most are being cancelled, or the turnout is so low that charities are taking unexpected financial losses. With few funds available for operations, the overall feeling in the nonprofit community is that within the next year, many New York charities will be forced to pare down key programs and services.
POVERTY DEEPENS
This would be a sad predicament for the people of New York at this time in particular. Social service needs were already enormous prior to September 11. Now, poverty continues to deepen. Nearly 20 percent of New Yorkers live at or below the poverty level. Homelessness is predicted to escalate. Welfare time limits are fast approaching. And, HIV/AIDS is continuing to devastate our neighborhoods, especially communities of color. The poor in fact, are at greatest risk, with the recession hitting low-wage workers most, according to economists.
In the city, job losses from September to October are estimated at over 100,000, and in October, unemployment rose to 5.4 percent. A dire prediction is that the unemployment rate may even reach 7 percent by the end of the year, nearly twice as high as it was a year ago. This does not bode well for low-skilled workers. Nor is it encouraging for people who worked at the World Trade Center and who have now joined the ranks of the unemployed.
GOVERNMENT NEGLECT
The argument that now is the time when low income communities are most in need of government assistance has not gone over well with city or state officials. In anticipation of huge revenue losses because of the attacks and the recession, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani very quickly announced that city agencies would face budget cuts of up to 15 percent. Many agencies do not know how they will be affected. Some are holding to last year's spending levels, but others are operating as if the money will not be there at all. That translates into more job losses. Agencies are getting ready to cut staff. In many cases, loss of a staff person could mean that an entire program is dismantled.
In Albany, where member items (the money given to individual legislators to allot at their own discretion) sometimes fund entire programs, the news is little better. On top of a budgetary process that would be comedic if it were not such a sham, the state barely passed re-appropriations of funds to pay for last year's contracts. At the last minute, the governor, senate and assembly agreed to provide $200 million for social services. That may sound like a lot of money, and in truth, no charitable organization wants to appear callous or insensitive to fiscal policy choices at this time. However, $200 million will not go nearly far enough to meet already existing needs.
Normally, the state spends $500 million a year on social services. That leaves many nonprofits wondering how they are to cope with increasing demand. Those working with the most vulnerable population hope that the city does not return to the crisis from which it worked so hard to extricate itself in the 1970's. Nonprofits have always been a crucial safety net for New Yorkers, but they require investment from both government and private citizens to offer the kinds of services we all hope none of us ever require.
While nonprofits encourage city and state governments to take a second look at the quandary of the social services sector, New Yorkers must rally round the charitable nonprofit community. Each person's involvement and support of the nonprofit sector, however small, provides the lifeblood for our larger community - and indeed, our ability to emerge from this recession and the recent disaster as a stronger, more vibrant city.
Dr. Megan McLaughlin is the executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
If you ask any public official or civic leader what the top priority is for planning the city's rebuilding after Sept. 11, they will probably say transportation. Improving transportation downtown is a major part of the recommendations of almost every civic group dealing with the effects of Sept. 11, from the Civic Alliance to the principles of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation itself. However, spending a large portion of the money that the federal government gave the city after Sept. 11 on transportation improvements may not be the best idea for New York City.
Of course, what was destroyed must be restored. But we should think twice before funding ideas such as creating a third major transportation hub in lower Manhattan, a moving walkway to connect remote subway and PATH stations, a major underground shopping mall alongside it, a bigger PATH station, new ferry terminals and bringing West Street underground.
In one recent estimate by Forbes Magazine, restoring the transportation system to pre-September 11 condition will take $5 billion of federal assistance, but another $7.3 billion will be sought to make improvements, and additional local and state funds will undoubtedly be needed for what is proposed. A major rationale for channeling so much of the available funds into transportation for lower Manhattan is that fixing transit infrastructure anywhere benefits everyone. That isn't necessarily the case. The proposed improvements will not benefit all equally. They should become a priority for public investment only if transportation improvements truly trump other needs for improvement throughout the city.
Even if one decides that transportation should be the main priority, putting these sums into a spanking new transportation hub at one end of Manhattan, in addition to the two hubs that already exist in midtown, is not the wisest use of transportation money. From a planning perspective, building a major new hub at one extreme end of the most densely crowded part of the most densely crowded borough of the city also does not make sense.
There are many other transportation facilities throughout the city that need these funds. The subway system desperately needs upgrading in many areas. More-and more modern-buses are needed. The East River tunnel connection is languishing for lack of funds. Bicycle users are badly under-served. Rail access to the Upper West Side and hubs in Jamaica and in Brooklyn are all expansion options. Each would serve a different set of users, with different income levels, ethnicity and gender. Social justice concerns should be a key consideration.
The most misguided transportation investment is the proposal to bury West Street next to Battery Park City in a tunnel. This project's benefits are narrow, affecting primarily the Battery Park City neighborhood, the highest-income enclave in lower Manhattan. According to a Crain's New York report, the cost is now being estimated at $2 billion for a ten block tunnel. Even some public officials are beginning to have doubts. "It is a good thing, but what is the price tag? If it came in at $2 billion or $3 billion then don't do it, because you could find more essential uses for that money," Congressman Jerrold Nadler told Crain's New York. That's exactly the question that ought to be asked of every proposal for infrastructure improvement.
There are other pressing needs throughout the city. Every serious economic study of New York City's future emphasizes the importance of education, for example. Many studies have also recommended business and infrastructure development in New York's other major business and commercial centers. If this is combined with community development plans, it could expand employment opportunities, decongest southern Manhattan, reduce commuting time and ameliorate environmental pollution. Affordable housing is also desperately needed in the city; even the modest proposals of Housing First suggest $10 billion as a 10-year price tag. We should not idly decide to sink billions into up-grading lower Manhattan infrastructure rather than using it to help meet some of these other needs.
Before we decide to devote so much of the Sept. 11 funds to add new transportation to lower Manhattan, the City Planning Commission should take a long-term, comprehensive look at the city's transportation system, its educational system, its environment, its economy, its housing, and make grounded recommendations as to priorities. Its role should be much more central than it now is. Before putting new transportation for lower Manhattan first, it is time to pause and consider the needs of the city as a whole.
Peter Marcuse is a professor of Urban Planning at Columbia University.
Which has more residents: New York City public housing or Atlanta, Georgia? Where is Five Points - the neighborhood in the movie "Gangs of New York" - located today?
Test your knowledge of New York City housing with our interactive quiz.
Simply click on the circle next to the answer you think is correct, and an answer will appear in the box below. Keep trying until you get the correct answer. To learn more about the subject, link to the Gotham Gazette story after each question.
Martin Bricketto also contributed to this quiz.