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Honoring Nixzmary's Memory By Avoiding A Panicked Response


Recently a brother and sister got into a scuffle at the office of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, where I am the executive director. It was nothing serious, just play fighting. But the mother broke it up by saying, "God forbid that one of you get a mark on you and someone sees it!"

I work with parents who at one time or another have lost their children to foster care, and they are once again living with a fear that such families last felt a decade ago.

As soon as they, and I, saw the sensationalized press coverage about the death of seven-year-old Nixzmary Brown, we were afraid the progress made in the last few years would unravel, due to subsequent political pressure.

It was in January, 1996, in the aftermath of the death the previous month of six-year-old Elisa Izquierdo, that the city reorganized and renamed the relevant city agency, calling it the Administration for Children’s Services, and making as part of its mission statement the policy that any ambiguity regarding a child’s safety would be resolved by removing the child from his or her home.

In the two years following the new agency’s inception, there was an increase of about 50 percent in the removal of children from their families. At the same time, since then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani believed that overzealous efforts to preserve families contributed to Elisa’s death, he slashed preventive services by 18 percent. Preventive services are anything provided to a family to help make it unnecessary to remove a child, such as housing, food stamps or day care.

Child neglect became criminalized during that time. Low-income mothers were arrested and prosecuted for offenses that were basically the result of being poor -- such as leaving their child alone while they worked in a sweat shop or living in “substandard housing” that was actually city housing.

Having worked in preventive services and seeing firsthand how much it can accomplish, I believe that many of the parents who had children removed in the 1990’s could have had it handled in a way that would better serve the long-term interest of their children.

Of course, none of us at the Child Welfare Organizing Project felt that parents who mistreat their children should be molly-coddled, and I’m not saying that parents whose kids were removed back then were totally blameless. Many needed help and many made mistakes. Some who had substance abuse issues truly were not in a place where they could take care of their children.

But we also felt that the Administration for Children’s Services was oversimplifying the issue. We knew that families caught up in the system were much more complex than the way they were being handled. And reflexively removing children tends to weaken and destroy the bonds in families that are fragile to begin with. It permanently undermines the parents' authority and the children's faith in their parents' ability to protect them. And many of the children who have been in care for any length of time have experienced abuse in their foster homes, often far in excess of what their parents were accused of.

We invited those parents to share their experiences. Theirs was a perspective to which nobody had paid attention. Eventually they were speaking to professionals in the child welfare system and in other venues where their voices had previously not been heard. The child welfare system became aware that birth parents were not criminals, but complicated people leading challenging lives, often struggling with issues related to being poor.

Things began to change in the direction for which we at the Child Welfare Organizing Project had hoped. The Administration for Children’s Services became less ideologically driven -- subscribing neither to the ideology of “when in doubt, remove the child,” or the equally extreme “preserve families at all costs.” It moved closer to taking into account the actual, individual needs of specific children and their families.

The number of kids going into foster care decreased and the city reinvested in preventive services. The number of kids known to the Administration for Children’s Services who died annually did not increase, as some feared it would.

But now the fear is that all the publicity and public outcry around Nixmary is bringing us back to the time where a birth parent was an object of suspicion, and all the progress made is in danger of being lost.

The birth parents who work at CWOP are also afraid on a much more visceral level. They know that once a parent has had a kid in foster care, that parent is much more likely to lose that kid again, because of that history.

Since Nixmary’s death, whenever a school teacher or guidance counselor calls a parent at CWOP, and I hand the phone to them, I see their hearts leaping to their throats. They’re wondering what has happened that could have resulted in a call to ACS.

There are definite signs that a panic like the one a decade ago is underway. There is reportedly a 30 percent increase in protective removals already this month so far, compared to January 2005. Meanwhile, our phone at CWOP hasn’t stopped ringing. We are trying to ride out this media frenzy and use it to make the points we want made. We hope to introduce parents’ testimony at the forthcoming city council and state assembly hearings. We want people to be aware of how parents are experiencing this, and why the Administration for Children’s Services should be very careful in how they respond.

The changes that the mayor recently announced were largely to add staff and money. The workers are supposed to respond more energetically to abuse complaints. These changes do not in themselves mean the agency will be any more likely to remove children from their families.

We believe that the best way to honor Nixzmary’s memory is not by going back to a time when the Administration for Children’s Services was just one more threat to family life in poor communities, but by continuing to change the system for the better.

Mike Arsham is executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project  

A Checkup for City Services


In New York City, a dead animal is picked up by the Department of Sanitation if it is on a street or sidewalk, by the Department of Transportation if it is on a highway, by Parks and Recreation if it is in a park, or by the New York City Police Department Marine Unit if it is in the water. If it's in your own home, it's your responsibility. That is not public property.

Dead animals suffered similar variable fates in Baltimore -- until city officials there determined that this was inefficient, costly and confusing. They came to this conclusion in 2000, thanks to something called CitiStat.

CitiStat is part of an approach to government that has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Officials in Baltimore collect statistical information about city services, analyse it, and then share it in meetings with the mayor and the heads of city agencies, where they compare notes and discuss how to fix problems. They have to answer to others when their agency is doing poorly, and they are rewarded when it succeeds.

It was during this process that the problem of animal disposal came up, and the officials decided that there had to be a better way. Now, when any animal dies in Baltimore, its carcass is most likely to be picked up by just one agency, the Department of Health, which got a bigger budget to do so.



A new approach to government accountability -- officially called "performance assessment" but more colloquially, compstatmania -- compiles, analyzes and interprets statistics in order to spot trends, gaps and overlaps in city services. It's not magic -- it's hard work, and follow-up. In this series, Gotham Gazette looks at this approach to improving city services.

That is just one example of the success of a system that could come to New York. A bill, introduced last year by City Councilmember Eric Gioia, would establish CityStat NY, modeled after Baltimore. One of the keys would be data -- collecting, reporting, analyzing, mapping and making it public. It might seem like a topic that only an egghead could love. But data gathered together into report cards about how well a city government agency is performing -- at say, delivering food to the hungry, or finding homes for foster kids -- could prove useful to many New Yorkers.

Call it Compstatmania; it is no exaggeration to say that this approach to city services -- an approach that many would say began in New York City -- has become a national movement. At the very least, such an approach shows how an agency spends its money and how it measures up to its prior performance. But the data can also be sorted and picked apart, analyzed and made into charts, graphs and maps to identify trends, gaps and overlaps in city services -- which, if followed up, would result in improved service to the public.

Centuries Of Record Collecting; The Mayor's Management Report

New York City has been collecting "data" since the early 1600s; the Municipal Archives on Chambers Street is awash in centuries' worth of office records, manuscripts, images, vital records, maps, blueprints, and photographs -- from 1939 to 1941, the city snapped pictures of every single building in all five boroughs, as a tool for property tax appraisals. The City Hall Library has been collecting the budgets, reports, procedures and meeting minutes of city agencies and officials since 1913.

One could date the modern era of slicing and dicing and disseminating this data to 1977, when Mayor Ed Koch released the first annual Mayor's Management Report. Preliminary findings laid out in January and a final report every September provide statistics and information about dozens of city government agencies. The report lists how many potholes are filled, the average cost of housing an inmate, crime statistics, the number of people on the welfare rolls, emergency room visits by residents, how dirty the streets are...the list can seem endless, and overwhelming.

The report has changed over the years. "It used to be the size of the Manhattan phone directory, and now it is a readable size," says Dennis Smith, an associate professor of public policy at New York University's Wagner School. Average citizens, he says, "can find data that experienced scholars had a hard time finding 10 years ago." One major change Bloomberg made was the introduction of "My Neighborhood Statistics," which lets Internet users research information on how well city services are being delivered down to the level of their own neighborhoods.

But some people still find the report overly complex to navigate and yet, at the same time, not informative enough. The report, "while it may display improvements in techniques, has never been lauded as a document that helps a reader pull all of it together so that it is the most understandable," says Peter Mameli, an associate professor in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Compstat, Parkstat, Healthstat, Capstat...

In the early 1980s, the sanitation department began issuing scorecards for itself. It was one early effort to take the idea behind the Mayor's Management Report one step further by focusing not just on data, but on outcomes that actually matter to citizens. In this instance, the department realized that what was important was not necessarily to measure how much trash was collected, but how much was left behind.

By 1994, that idea merged with technological advances to transform once again. That was the year the New York Police Department implemented its Compstat program. Then Police Commissioner William Bratton began tracking where and how many major crimes were being committed. Police then poured the data into a computer database and generated maps and charts of problem spots. Now, instead of focusing on how many police officers were deployed throughout the city as a way to gauge crime-fighting efforts, the department focused on sending them to where they were needed most. Precinct captains endured regular meetings where they were either praised for reducing crime in their areas or chastised for failing to do so. The method was widely lauded as helping slash crime in the city.

It was seen as so successful, in fact, that it was replicated throughout the city and country. It even served as the model for Baltimore's CitiStat. The key to the effectiveness of this kind of analysis, which in some circles is called "performance assessment," is in how the numbers are used. "Anybody who thinks this is just measuring is missing it," says Smith, from the Wagner School. "It has to do with figuring out what measures you need to know, and who needs to know those things when. It's leadership, it's resources, it's creative thinking."

The Department of Parks and Recreation, for example, had been collecting stats on cleanliness and safety in public parks. But it did not manage to cut crime and clean up parks significantly until after it took a cue from Compstat. It began reporting data more often than just once a year and held meetings to discuss problems and hold managers accountable. The percentage of clean, safe parks jumped from 40 percent to 80 percent.

There are yet more measurements for the city. Just last week, the Department of Health launched a new tool on its Web site that lets diners run detailed searches of New York City's 20,000-plus eateries.

What's more, at least 17 city agencies participate in the Citywide Accountability Program (Capstat), a system that is somewhat like having a CityStat for each agency: they measure performance and report results on the Internet. But, according to a 2002 report by the Independent Budget Office, "Capstat mostly reiterates operational information in the Mayor's Management Report and does not reflect the kind of results that really matter to residents."

Why The City Council Wants Citystat

For such a dweeby topic, performance assessment is becoming hipper all the time. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has focused on using technology to streamline government. The 311 system he implemented in 2003 has gleaned useful information about New Yorkers' grievances.

New City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was even more specific in her acceptance speech. Quinn referred to "using technology to find patterns of problems across the city. If multiple neighborhoods can't get stop signs installed in a timely fashion, we should know that is a systemic problem and treat it as such," she said. "If some neighborhoods are saddled with higher unemployment than others, we should quantify it and then direct economic development money to those communities that need it most." Other city council members applauded loudly. Quinn acknowledged what good data can do -- identify problems large or small.

CityStat could do that. Based on the Compstat model, it is an accountability system that would provide analyses of how well city agencies are performing and then put that information on the Web. Each city agency would have to produce a report card on its own performance using data from specific indicators relevant to the work it does. It would then have to report that information to the city council and put it on the Internet at regular intervals. In theory, there would be a central location to access the different report cards and data produced through Compstat, Parkstat, Capstat and the Mayor's Management Report.

"It's based on the theory that sunlight is the best disinfectant," says Gioia, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigations and the bill's sponsor. He and other proponents of such a system point to the success of Citistat in Baltimore, which cost under $300,000 to launch but saved that city some $43 million in its first three years. It almost immediately helped slash overtime, improve productivity and reduce absenteeism among city employees; it quadrupled the amount of graffiti removal in the city and cut complaints about potholes.

The details of how it would work in New York are somewhat unclear. In Baltimore, for example, a citizen cannot search a massive database and come up with whatever specialized information he wants. Instead, the CitiStat staff releases a report each week about a different government agency. Here, however, public access is one of the key selling points of the system.

The Bloomberg administration does not seem impressed with the proposal. The bill as it stands now "is riddled with problems," says Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, whose Office of Operations would be instrumental in implementing such a system. For example, Barowitz says, the CityStat bill "demands that some figures be reported monthly, when they are collected semi-annually. The bill needs to be completely overhauled," he said.

Roadblocks And Miracles

Despite Capstat and the Mayor's Management Report, some city agencies are still just catching up. Two years ago, homeless New Yorkers with HIV or AIDS might have found themselves dumped in leaky, unlocked apartments without heat, hot water, electricity, mattresses or toilet paper. Sometimes they ended up trapped there for months, despite legal mandates for the city's HIV/AIDS Services Administration to move them quickly to permanent housing. Nearly three-quarters of the emergency and transitional rooming had housing violations, according to a 2004 investigation by the City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigations.

As stultifying as the problems the committee found was a roadblock it encountered along the way: a dearth of data from the AIDS services agency itself. Most shockingly, the agency kept no master list of referrals and placements where people with AIDS could go for emergency shelter. The lack of a centralized system meant that caseworkers usually did not know whether a landlord was negligent or an apartment was sub-standard. So some clients waited months, if not years, for permanent placement while others got shoved back into rooms that had already been found to be uninhabitable.

"It was everything you are afraid of in government, that there is no one in charge and no one monitoring results," Gioia said. "It was a broken system that was failing miserably at its goals."

The city council passed three new laws after the committee released its report on the city's AIDS agency. One of those laws requires that the agency create and maintain a referral and placement master list.

If some city agencies don't seem to get what all the fuss about keeping records and analyzing data is about, others have become true believers -- thanks to some apparent miracles. This is what happened at the Department of Corrections, which since 1995 has run TEAMS, short for Total Efficiency Accountability Management System. As part of that system, officials noticed a spike in inmates trying to sneak in contraband material that could be made into weapons. Paying close attention to the data, they realized that the increase came mostly from one facility, and intuited a larger problem brewing among inmates. All this helped the Department of Corrections cut inmate-on-inmate violence, officials say, by 97 percent.

 

City Council Committee Assignments


Untitled Document

2006 City Council Committees

Approved January 18, 2006 (updated February 2, 2007)

Standing Committees

Aging
Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Chair
Gail Brewer
Helen Foster
Dennis Gallagher
Vincent Gentile
Sara Gonzalez
Domenic Recchia
Kendall Stewart
James Vacca

Civil Rights
Larry Seabrook, Chair
Bill de Blasio
Darlene Mealy
Hiram Monserrate
Michael Nelson

Civil Service & Labor
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
James Gennaro
Melissa Mark Viverito

Michael Nelson
Larry Seabrook

Consumer Affairs
Leroy Comrie, Chair
Charles Barron
James Gennaro
Oliver Koppell
John Liu

Contracts
Yvette Clarke, Chair
Robert Jackson
John Liu
Melissa Mark Viverito
Michael Nelson
Kendall Stewart
David Weprin

Cultural Affairs, Libraries & International Intergroup Relations
Dominic Recchia, Chair
Leroy Comrie
Inez Dickens
Daniel Garodnick
Vincent Gentile
Eric Gioia
James Vacca
David Weprin
Thomas White, Jr.

Economic Development
Thomas White, Jr., Chair
Alan Gerson
Letitia James
Michael McMahon
Annabel Palma
Diana Reyna
Albert Vann
David Weprin
David Yassky

Education
Robert Jackson, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Bill DeBlasio
Simcha Felder
Lewis Fidler
Helen Foster
Daniel Garodnick
Melinda Katz
Oliver Koppell
Jessica Lappin
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Domenic Recchia
James Vacca
Peter Vallone Jr.
Albert Vann
David Yassky

Environmental Protection
James Gennaro, Chair
Bill DeBlasio
Oliver Koppell
Melissa Mark Viverito
Dominic Recchia
Kendall Stewart
Peter Vallone Jr.
Thomas White, Jr.

Finance
David Weprin, Chair
Maria Baez
Gail Brewer
Leroy Comrie
Bill DeBlasio
Lewis Fidler
Dennis Gallagher
James Gennaro
Vincent Gentile
Alan Gerson
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Oliver Koppell
Michael McMahon
James Oddo
Diana Reyna
Joel Rivera
Helen Sears
Peter Vallone Jr.
Al Vann
David Yassky

Fire & Criminal Justice Services
Miguel Martinez, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Tony Avella
Vincent Gentile
Alan Gerson
Eric Gioia
Hiram Monserrate
James Vacca

General Welfare
Bill Deblasio, Chair
Gale Brewer
Jessica Lappin
Annabel Palma
Thomas White, Jr.

Governmental Operations
Simcha Felder, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Inez Dickens
Erik Martin Dilan
Dominic Recchia
Larry Seabrook
Peter Vallone Jr.

Health
Joel Rivera, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Maria Baez
Inez Dickens
Helen Foster
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Michael McMahon
Rosie Mendez
Helen Sears
Kendall Stewart
Albert Vann

Higher Education
Charles Barron, Chair
Tony Avella
Gale Brewer
Miguel Martinez
Larry Seabrook

Housing & Buildings
Erik Martin Dilan, Chair
Tony Avella
Maria Baez
Leroy Comrie
Lewis Fidler
Dennis Gallagher
Robert Jackson
Rosie Mendez
James Oddo
Joel Rivera
Thomas White, Jr.

Immigration
Kendall Stewart, Chair
Charles Barron
Melissa Mark Viverito
Darlene Mealy
Michael Nelson
Annabel Palma
David Weprin

Juvenile Justice
Sara Gonzalez, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Darlene Mealy
James Sanders, Jr.
Helen Sears

Land Use
Melinda Katz, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Tony Avella
Maria Baez
Charles Barron
Leroy Comrie
Inez Dickens
Erik Martin Dilan
Simcha Felder
Daniel Garodnick
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Jessica Lappin
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Michael McMahon
Rosie Mendez
James Oddo
Annabel Palma
Joel Rivera
Larry Seabrook
Helen Sears
Albert Vann

Lower Manhattan Redevelopment
Alan Gerson, Chair
Helen Foster
John Liu
Rosie Mendez
David Yassky

Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse & Disability Services
Oliver Koppell, Chair
Gale Brewer
Simcha Felder
James Gennaro
Annabel Palma

Oversight and Investigations
Eric Gioia, Chair
Gale Brewer
Jessica Lappin
John Liu
Michael Nelson

Parks & Recreation
Helen Foster, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Dennis Gallagher
Alan Gerson
Letitia James

Public Safety
Peter Vallone Jr., Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Eric Martin Dilan
Helen Foster
Daniel Garodnick
James Gennarro
Vincent Gentile
Melinda Katz
Hiram Monserrate
James Oddo
David Yassky James Oddo

Rules/Privileges & Elections
Diana Reyna, Chair
Maria Baez
Leroy Comrie
Inez Dickens
Eric Martin Dilan
Lewis Fidler
Daniel Garodnick
Robert Jackson
Melinda Katz
Michael McMahon
Christine Quinn
James Oddo
Joel Rivera
David Weprin

Sanitation & Solid Waste Management
Michael McMahon, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Dennis Gallagher
James Gennaro
Robert Jackson
Jessica Lappin
Larry B. Seabrook
David Yassky

Small Business
David Yassky, Chair
Letitia James
Darlene Mealy
Annabel Palma
David Weprin

Standards & Ethics
Inez Dickens, Chair
Daniel Garodnick
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Melinda Katz
Jessica Lappin
Helen Sears
James Vacca

State & Federal Legislation
Maria Baez, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Erik Martin Dilan
Lewis Fidler
Michael McMahon
Hiram Monseratte
Joel Rivera

Technology In Government
Gale Brewer, Chair
Bill DeBlasio
Letitia James
Oliver Koppell
James Sanders, Jr.

Transportation
John Liu, Chair
Joseph Addabbo Jr.
Daniel Garodnick
Oliver Koppell
Jessica Lappin
Miguel Martinez
Michael McMahon
Darlene Mealy
Diana Reyna
Larry Seabrook

Veterans
Hiram Monserrate, Chair
Tony Avella
Lewis Fidler
Letitia James
Michael Nelson

Waterfronts
Michael Nelson, Chair,
Joseph Addobbo, Jr.
Gale Brewer
Vincent Gentile
Alan Gerson
Melissa Mark Viverito
James Vacca

Women's Issues
Helen Sears, Chair
Charles Barron
Sara Gonzalez
Letitia James
Melissa Mark Viverito
Darlene Mealy
James Sanders, Jr.

Youth Services
Lewis Fidler, Chair
Dennis Gallagher
Alan Gerson
Sara Gonzalez
Melissa Mark Viverito
Darlene Mealy

Land Use Subcommittees

Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime
Jessica Lappin, Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Charles Barron
Leroy Comrie
John Liu
Miguel Martinez
Rosie Mendez
James Oddo
Annabel Palma

Planning, Dispositions & Concessions
Daniel Garodnick, Chair
Maria Baez
Inez Dickens

Zoning Franchises
Tony Avella, Chair
Erik Martin Dilan
Simcha Felder
Eric Gioia
Robert Jackson
Melinda Katz
Michael McMahon
Joel Rivera
Larry Seabrook
Helen Sears
Albert Vann

Subcommittees

Drug Abuse (Mental Health)
Annabel Palma, Chair

Public Housing
Rosie Mendez, Chair

Senior Centers (Aging)
James Vacca, Chair



 

 

City Council Stated Meeting - January 18, 2006


MEETING SUMMARY:

The City Council appointed chairs and members for its committees today. It also re-appointed the chair and one member of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city agency that oversees historic preservation in New York.

New Chairs

The New York City Council took shape on January 18th with the naming of more than 40 committee heads -- the "chairs" of council standing committee and sub-committees. Council Speaker Christine Quinn praised her appointments. "We've increased the number of women in leadership and heading committees from 13 in our last council to 15," she said. "We've named 21 council members of color chair of committees, including three committees that the Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus identified as most critical -- Education, Health and Housing. And we've named a Republican leader to head a council committee, the task force on buildings."

Some key committee heads remain the same. But several new chairs were appointed. New Councilmember Inez Dickens takes over as the chair of the Standards and Ethics Committee and becomes the Majority Whip, earning an $11,000 stipend. Jessica Lappin will head the Land Use Sub-Committee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime. Daniel Garodnick will also chair a Land Use Sub-Committee on Planning Dispositions and Concessions. And Rosie Mendez will lead the Sub-Committee on Public Housing.

The important post of chair of the Education Committee went, as predicted, to Robert Jackson, who was one of the original plaintiffs in the Council for Fiscal Equity suit against the state for underfunding the city's public schools. Bronx Councilmember Joel Rivera, whose early support helped garner Quinn her Speaker position, is Majority Leader, chair of the Health Committee, and recipient of a $23,000 stipend, second only to Quinn's $28,500 bonus. The new chair of Housing and Buildings will be Erik Martin Dilan, a move that helps Vito Lopez of Brooklyn solidify himself as an unofficial housing czar.

Leroy Comrie Jr., who had been up for speaker before Quinn got the job, received a bump up to Deputy Majority Leader and chair of Consumer Affairs with a $20,000 stipend. Reyna replaced him as head of Rules, Privileges and Elections. Alan Gerson will chair a new committee for Lower Manhattan Redevelopment.

Contentious Appointments to Landmarks Preservation Commission

The City Council also unanimously approved the mayor's re-appointment of two members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city agency that identifies, designates and regulates historic districts and landmarks in the five boroughs. Robert Tierney was re-appointed chair, a full-time position that draws a salary of over $150,000. Elizabeth Ryan was re-appointed as one of the 10 commissioners, who don't get a salary for their part-time work.

Though all went smoothly before the full City Council, some preservation activists delivered strong testimony against Tierney at a committee hearing earlier in the day. "This is not an open process," screamed Michael Henry Adams, historian and author of "Harlem Lost and Found" "It's going to be the same as it's always been," he yelled at top voice from the back of the hearing room. "It's going to be the same as it's always been!" he shouted again as he was forcibly removed from the room.

Other preservationists were less disruptive but equally upset at Tierney's tenure. One activist called Tierney's appointment "pre-ordained" Another, Olive Freud of the Committee For Environmentally Sound Development, said, "Mr. Tierney has been such a disappointment. It almost makes us want to cry." A few preservationists testified in support of Tierney, and Councilmember Simcha Felder, former chair of a the Land Use Sub-Committee on Landmarks, called Tierney's position a "thankless job." Said Felder, "Advocates, no matter what the commission does, it'll never be enough [for them]."

Council members were mostly in support of re-appointing Tierney but also pointed to some improvements they'd like to see: a more transparent and faster process for landmark or historic district designation, more recognition and preservation of the rich history of outer boroughs, better staffing and funding for the commission, and more discussion of how to ease the increased financial burden for shop owners and low-income residents of historic districts or buildings.

No New Bills and Other Business

No bills were introduced at the stated meeting. Council members observed a moment of silence to mark the death of Councilmember Hiram Monserrate's sister after her long battle with cancer. The meeting adjourned with a remembrance of the three children who died in a Coney Island fire last week and of 7-year old Nixmary Brown, allegedly beaten, tortured and killed in her home by her stepfather.

In the wake of Nixmary's death, a scheduled meeting on Jan. 31 of the General Welfare Committee to discuss New York City's Administration for Children's Services could be heated.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is slated to give his State of the City address on January 26, and the city budget should be released shortly afterward. The next City Council stated meeting will be on Wednesday, February 1.

Link to committee chairs and memberships

 

 

 

 

 

 

Older New Yorkers And The Internet


As a nurse, Kathleen Sucich was used to helping people, and now that she is retired, she continues to do so -- by assisting some of the other 800,000 New Yorkers over the age of 65 to become more comfortable with the Internet. In some ways, it is just in time. While in the past, it might have been accepted as a fact of life that older people are far less likely than the population as a whole to use computers, this month in particular the need to bring seniors online has become a matter of urgency.

Since January 1, New Yorkers 65 years of age or older have been able to choose to receive new Medicare prescription drug coverage. But the program is deeply confusing--New York State offers 46 different plans provided through 21 companies. The best way to make sense of it, to sort it all out, is to use the Internet.

The “digital divide” between affluent and poor populations is a well-documented phenomenon. Less discussed is a digital divide based not on income or education, but on age. In 2004, the Pew Internet And American Life project found that only 22 percent of Americans 65 and older are online. This is in stark contrast to the broader adult population; a 2005 Harris poll estimates that almost 75 percent of American adults now go online.

"Many of the most serious challenges of aging -- limited mobility, isolation, reduced income, and the need for health care information and assistance -- are well suited to technology-based solutions," declares the Web site of a New York City non-profit called Older Adults Technology Services, or OATS. "Yet seniors are often excluded from these opportunities due to lack of access to technology and training."

OATS is one of the organizations that aim to provide this training, with the goal of "enhancing the social and civic engagement of older adults."

City agencies and members of the non-profit community are both striving to increase the rate of connectivity among city seniors. New York City's Department for the Aging has provided training for seniors in how to use computers and search the Internet since 1998. The department has allocated almost $13 million over the past four years to purchase computers, train staff in their use, and develop senior-friendly computer programs. There is computer access in more than 40 percent of the 300 senior centers that the department manages. A recent grant from IBM has equipped many centers with software designed for seniors, including Spanish-language software in selected locations.

Several city senior centers also participate in SeniorNet, a national organization that educates seniors about new technologies and also is host of active online discussion forums, which help to lessen the social isolation. "I'm a widow looking for social activities in my area," Ginger wrote recently on one of these message boards. "I play bridge, tennis, like to dance and am new to computers. My son has helped me sign up."

Although the Department for the Aging has engaged in increasing connectivity among seniors, it of course has a much broader mandate than this. But Older Adults Technology Services, founded in 2004, is the first citywide organization "dedicated to addressing the serious gap in technology services for seniors in New York City"

OATS has developed a 10-week senior-friendly course that initially focuses on seemingly rudimentary topics such as how to use a mouse and keyboard. (One concern about the Department for the Aging’s training programs is that they often assume a level of computer literacy that many seniors do not possess). The workbooks are in large type, and computer screens are configured for easy reading.

Once senior students have this foundation, the course provides an introduction to a wide variety of topics, such as how to use Microsoft Word, how to search Amazon, and how to send e-mail. “Google quizzes,” in which seniors search Google to answer obscure trivia questions, are a highlight of the course.One session focuses on how to conduct medical research online.

The agency is also piloting an intergenerational training program, in which teenagers mentor seniors about how to use a computer. According to lead trainer Anthony Accurso, teenagers are empowered by this opportunity to take a leadership role. Because teenagers have a natural affinity for new technologies, this is an innovative way to increase the comfort level of those seniors who are initially reluctant to learn about computers.

It was at Older Adults Technology Services that Kathleen Sucich, now 69, received the training that helped her "not to be so intimidated by the computer", and to become more politically aware as well, thanks to online resources. She feels that there is still much more to learn. But now, when she has difficulty, she knows where to turn.

Marcus Banks is a librarian at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 

District 2: Planning for a Better - And Quieter - Community


City Council district 2 is a diverse and vibrant area, which includes communities as rich and unique in history as the Lower East Side, Gramercy Park and Murray Hill. While each neighborhood has its own distinct needs and priorities, there are some unifying issues that face all of the residents of this area.

DEVELOPMENT THAT MEETS THE COMMUNITY’S NEEDS
I am particularly concerned about the loss of scarce affordable housing through conversions, buyouts, and gradual elimination of rent regulations. As a former resident of public housing myself, I am keenly aware of poor maintenance, privatization and discriminatory occupancy rules that current residents face. Out of scale housing developments, massive community facilities and new commercial uses are also straining our public transit, parks and schools, and often change the character of our neighborhoods.

In order to address these issues, the residents of these neighborhoods must develop community-planning guidelines that balance development pressures with the rights of existing residents and the need to preserve economic diversity.

I will assist community board 3 in its current work to discourage buildings that are designed under outdated planning principals.

I will create a mandatory affordable housing component.

And I will assist in negotiations between community residents and the universities and hospitals, which currently have or are likely to have plans to build facilities to ensure that they are in scale with the community fabric.

NOISE CONCERNS
The neighborhoods of district 2 are also characterized by lively bars and restaurants, which contribute substantially to the area’s appeal. When responsibly managed and when licensed in reasonable density, these establishments are tremendous community assets enjoyed by patrons and neighbors.

In certain areas, however, some of these establishments, often with outdoor cafes and backyard gardens, can create excessive noise and crowding that make it difficult for nearby residents to quietly enjoy their homes and sidewalks.

Some of the owners of these bars and restaurants are unresponsive to residents' complaints of noise and music at late night hours or have not made adequate provisions for soundproofing. Some are unwilling or unable to control their patrons who often crowd sidewalks, strain sanitation services, and become rowdy and sometimes dangerous.

Licensing of bars and restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages is currently the purview of the New York State Liquor Authority. The city has no power to control the proliferation of such establishments. The only local control rests with the New York City Police Department, which can enforce legal compliance in existing establishments with such matters as underage drinking, occupancy limits, and noise infractions, and the Department of Consumer Affairs, which licenses sidewalk cafes, but not backyard gardens.

Although the police department is increasingly aware and sensitive to the problems resulting from bar proliferation, most precincts do not have the resources to adequately address the problems.

Reasonable standards must be established which will limit the number, size and character of establishments which may operate in residential districts.

Local law enforcement officials and community boards, which have the most direct information about each establishment's character, must have a meaningful power over licensing approvals.

Adequate resources and streamlined administrative sanctions must be established to enforce realistic noise and nuisance ordinances.

I intend to work cooperatively with my colleagues and the city delegation of the New York State Legislature to find means to increase local control of this very serious problem.

Rosie Mendez represents City Council district 2, which includes Alphabet City, Gramercy, the Lower East Side and Murray Hill.

 

District 13: Improving Education and Reforming the Department of Buildings


Education and reform of the New York City Department of Buildings are two key issues that I hope to address as an incoming member of the New York City Council.

MAKING REAL PROGRESS IN EDUCATION
As a product of the public school system and a public school parent, I want to build upon the recent reform of the school system and assess the effectiveness of changes made to date.

While I support the mayor's initiative to end social promotion, I want to make sure that improvements in test scores are not just sufficient enough to move a youngster on to the next grade, but can be sustained in future years through follow-up and mentoring. In particular, we must look at what happens when children enter the intermediate school years and recognize that their experience during these years often dictate their success in high school as well.

Any discussion about the future of public education must also include the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, in which a court ruled that New York City schools are entitled to more funding. While we await further action on the lawsuit, the City Council must effectively oversee the allocation of resources, because additional funding is not the sole answer to the problems plaguing our schools.

Meaningful oversight by the legislative branch is needed to assure accountability. We must listen and work with teachers, supervisors, support staff and parents. I know what to look for when I visit a school, and I intend to visit all the schools in my district and use my knowledge to assess school tone and learning environment.

Too many schools in my district are still overcrowded. We have high schools with 4,600 students, and elementary schools where children with special needs are forced to hold class in the hallways. This is unacceptable. Crowded classrooms have a direct impact upon academic results. We need more than portable trailers; we need long-term solutions.

I believe we call upon our schools to do so much because they often provide the stability and structure many children cry out for and may not receive at home.

I believe we must stress character education with specified learning strategies for each grade. It is important that we build on basics - not just reading, writing, and arithmetic - but respect for each other, brotherhood and positive socialization. We must teach them at a very young age what is right, what is wrong, and how to know the difference.

I also want to restore meaningful adult education programs because I realize that learning is an on-going process. As someone who returned to Queens College and received my Masters Degree in Urban Studies in 2001, I can attest to the fact that more and more adults see continuing education a priority. It is important that community-based initiatives provide training in computer literacy, resume writing, and job training, and that certificate based programs be expanded or established where they do not exist.

REFORMING THE BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT
Overdevelopment is a serious issue in the Bronx. In recent years, single-family homes have been torn down, and three-family homes have been put up in their place. New buildings are often built without adequate parking and without thought for how they affect our schools, roads, and mass transit, and how they change the character of our neighborhoods.

One of the problems lies with the New York City Department of Buildings, which too often does not enforce existing zoning regulations. I firmly believe that the buildings department can do better.

Currently, the Buildings Department allows architects, who are hired by developers, to approve their own new construction permits with no review by a Buildings Department plan examiner through a process called self-certification. Effectively, this process allows developers to approve their own new plans with no oversight by the Department of Buildings. We must eliminate this practice.

As district manager of community board 10, I found time and time again that too many applications were flawed. By challenging many of them, we successfully reduced developments that would have placed an even greater strain on infrastructure and the character of residential blocks. As a policy, self-certification is wrong.

We must intensify our efforts to professionalize the buildings department and provide them with the expertise needed to enforce the zoning resolution before and after a permit is granted. I want to take a look at each of the borough offices and review their staffing levels, because these offices deal most directly with the public. It is their operation that directly impacts on communities throughout our city.

I also want to advance pending downzoning proposals, which would limit the size and density of new construction for neighborhoods in my district such as Ferry Point, Pelham Bay and Zerega.

James Vacca represents City Council district 13, which includes the Bronx neighborhoods of Morris Park, Pelham and Throgs Neck.

 

Political Agendas, 2006


All in the same week, Governor George Pataki delivered his final State of the State address; Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver issued a scathing response a few minutes later; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave his inaugural address; and Christine Quinn spoke after she was elected the new Speaker of the City Council. The re-elected public advocate and city comptroller also presented their inaugural addresses. What’s more, eight new council members were sworn into office -- four of whom (so far) have written essays specifically for Gotham Gazette.

Speeches and Essays

• Governor George Pataki's State of the State Address
•Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's Response To Pataki's Speech

• Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Inaugural Address
• Comptroller Bill Thompson's Inaugural Address
• Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum's Inaugural Address

• District 2: Planning for a Better - And Quieter - Community by Rosie Mendez
• District 4: Creating Open Space and Solving Transportation Woes on the East Side by Dan Garodnick
• District 5: Garbage Stations, Water Tunnel Shaft, and Affordable Housing by Jessica Lappin
• District 13: Improving Education and Reforming the Department of
Buildings by James Vacca

 

The political convergence gave elected officials at all levels of government an opportunity to put forth at least initial agendas for 2006 (both Bloomberg and Quinn plan more detailed State of the City addresses soon) -- and a chance for their constituents to discern both common concerns and differing approaches:

CRIME

With the shooting deaths of two New York City police officers coming within two weeks of one another at the end of last year, crime seems to have been put back as topic number one for New York's elected officials. It was the subject on which Bloomberg spoke at the most length in his inaugural address, focusing on guns: “Our most urgent challenge is ending the threat of guns and the violence they do," he said. "Now we have a duty…, one that rises above all partisan politics and one we will pursue relentlessly. And that is to rid our streets of guns and punish those who possess and traffic in these instruments of death.”

“We will take our message to Albany, to Washington, and to every capital of every state that permits guns to flow freely across its borders,” he said. Demanding tougher gun laws in states other than the one in which he serves has already earned the mayor new critics across the country.

But at home, there seems near unanimity in favor of a tough stance against gun trafficking. “Mr. Mayor,” said newly elected Speaker Quinn in her speech, “I will go anywhere you need to stop the flow of illegal guns into this city.”

The state assembly is on board, too, and Silver called on his partners in state government to do more: “When it comes to halting gun violence, the governor and the legislature have much more work to do. We must remove illegal guns from our neighborhoods. We must prohibit the sale of assault weapons. And we must ban armor-piercing bullets once and for all."

Even Pataki seemed to approve the effort against guns, with a passing reference to state laws just passed.

Pataki's primary focus on crime, however, involved tough talk about sex offenders. He promised to push for longer sentences, a stronger Megan’s Law and the elimination of the statute of limitations for sexual assault. He also proposed to re-introduce legislation to keep some sex offenders confined after they’ve served their prison sentences.

Despite Silver’s criticisms of Pataki on other issues, he backed the governor’s move to crack down on sex offenders, as he has in the past.

EDUCATION

Education remains a subject on which all office-holders express concern, though here there is less consensus. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's harshest attack on Pataki's tenure involved the governor’s handling of education, specifically his treatment of the lawsuit by the nonprofit group Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which claimed the state was shortchanging kids in New York City schools. The courts agreed, ordering the state to increase funding for the city's schools, but the Pataki administration is appealing the rulings.

For his part, Pataki's only reference to the lawsuit or the court decision was indirect: "Let's start out by renewing our commitment to providing additional funding to high-needs schools -- in New York City and across the state."

Then again, Mayor Bloomberg did not mention the lawsuit either.

Instead, Bloomberg touted arts education and otherwise promised to stay the course of his controversial school reform. For her part, Quinn hinted that middle schools need to show the same improvement that grade schools have seen since the overhaul of the system.

One of the new council members addressed the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case in his essay. James Vacca calls on the city council to monitor how funding from the lawsuit is distributed. That’s because council member involvement can help ensure accountability, he writes. What’s more, he says, “I intend to visit all the schools in my district and use my knowledge to assess school tone and learning environment.” He also stressed a need to restore adult and continuing education programs.

HOUSING

Not much gets a New York City politician more fired up than the need for affordable housing. “We face a housing crisis that is pricing too many tenants and homeowners out of their neighborhoods,” said Chris Quinn in her acceptance speech. Bloomberg promised to push forward on “the most ambitious affordable housing initiative in New York’s history.”

All of the new council members mention affordable housing as a need in their districts. Councilmember Jessica Lappin says that as two middle-income developments on Roosevelt Island prepare to exit the Mitchell-Lama program, and as other buildings consider privatization, residents on the island face a housing crisis and “are questioning the future and fate of the place they call home.”

“[C]onversions, buyouts, and gradual elimination of rent regulations” threaten affordable housing for residents in Rosie Mendez’s district, which includes parts of the Lower East Side and Gramercy. She says neighborhoods “must develop community-planning guidelines that balance development pressures with the rights of existing residents and the need to preserve economic diversity.”

City Comptroller William Thompson weighed in, too: “We will ensure that the innovative Battery Park City Housing Trust Fund we established with Mayor Bloomberg and housing advocates honors the decades old commitment to create affordable housing units."

The topic seemed off the radar of the much wider constituencies of Pataki and Silver, despite affordable housing needs throughout the state. Pataki didn’t mention it at all, and Silver made only a passing reference to it when he blamed Pataki for providing inadequate funding for housing.

LOCAL ISSUES

Pataki's address, packed as it was with specifics, included several promises for New York City, such as the creation of an Empire Zone in Lower Manhattan, and "an unprecedented bio-tech research challenge grant initiative that will leverage $600 million in public/private matching funds" for the city's medical research institutions.

But it was the city council members who largely focused on specific economic development and land use issues in their communities.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the area is the future of a plot of land where the Con Edison Waterside Plant currently sits,” writes Dan Garodnick, new council member for Manhattan’s District 4, which includes parts of mid-town along the East River and the Upper East Side at the edge of Central Park.

Lappin is concerned about a plan from the city’s Department of Environmental Protection to dig a new water supply shaft in her district, which runs along the waterfront of Upper East Side. The proposed Shaft 33B would link the area with the city’s No. 3 water tunnel, the biggest capital construction project in the history of the city.

James Vacca, who represents Pelham Bay, Throgs Neck and other parts of northeastern Bronx, proposes a big-picture fix for problems he says stem from land use processes. He lays out tactics to reform and professionalize the city’s Department of Buildings in order to ease overdevelopment in his and other neighborhoods.

Speeches and Essays On The 2006 Agenda

•Governor George Pataki's State of the State Address
•Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's Response To Pataki's Speech

• Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Inaugural Address
• Comptroller Bill Thompson's Inaugural Address
• Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum's Inaugural Address

• District 2: Planning for a Better - And Quieter - Community by Rosie Mendez
• District 4: Creating Open Space and Solving Transportation Woes on the East Side by Dan Garodnick
• District 5: Garbage Stations, Water Tunnel Shaft, and Affordable Housing by Jessica Lappin
• District 13: Improving Education and Reforming the Department of
Buildings by James Vacca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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