NYC

A fully realized Second Avenue subway would replace service lost decades ago, help meet ever growing transit demand, and provide a wide range of economic and environmental benefits to New York City and its residents. Even though the entire line could be built at one time, and even though delay is more costly than action, all that has been funded is a less-than-two-mile stub.

A devastating article about the devastating storm leaves no doubt that the two officials have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to upgrading New York’s infrastructure to meet the threat of “rising sea levels, more frequent flood and extreme weather patterns.”

The New York Times just documented the continuing existence of an intense level of racial segregation in schools in New York City. But scant attention was paid to the still-entrenched pattern of housing segregation that afflicts New York and many other metropolitan areas, a pattern that is a critical driver of segregation in schools.

Lots of anecdotes to show that the City Council Speaker is down to earth, but little of substance. When you leave out the fact that Quinn runs the Council undemocratically, thwarts the will of voters, and serves the interests of the one percent, you don't have much of a profile.

Wouldn't facility by facility information on operating costs, staffing, and level of use help New York City's Parks Dept. and outside observers assess whether there is equity in funding between and among parks as well as the related question of whether and to what extent to rely on private as opposed to public funding? Good luck getting the data.

Governor Andrew Cuomo — who just played a historic role in securing marriage rights for gay and lesbian New Yorkers — is already being referred to as a presidential candidate for 2016, and is being touted as an "aggressive pragmatist" or "dynamic centrist." Why won’t the press pin him down on what specific outcome he sought in the battle pitting the need of millions of New Yorkers for affordable and secure housing against the desire of landlords and free market ideologues to continue to dismantle the rent regulation system?

Cuomo left the trigger points at which apartments are deregulated worse for tenants than they were 14 years ago, when then-Governor George Pataki first orchestrated legislative changes designed to destroy rent regulation.

Today’s robbing of the NYC employees’ health insurance fund as a “realistic” means to pay to avoid layoffs will become tomorrow’s hysterically anti-union “health benefits costs are out of control” rallying cry. City officials — neither the “education” mayor, nor the backbone-free City Council — are just not prepared to pay for vital services.