City Limits articles from January 2003

City Limits archives from January 2003

Moo. (Editorial).
January 1, 2003... BELIEVE IT OR NOT, there are still sacred cows mooing contentedly long after the budget axe has fallen. You may have heard of some of them, like paid teacher sabbaticals, two-man patrol cars and a few firehouses. But there are other...

A shot in the dark. (Frontlines).
January 1, 2003... THE TIME RALPH THOMAS hit middle age, the Philadelphia native had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, a prison record, and bleak memories of New York City homeless shelters. But when Thomas learned to develop his own film this year, he began...

Doctored to do little: as city skimps on tutoring, parents wonder who will be left behind. (Frontlines).
January 1, 2003... CHOICE. That has been George W. Bush's mantra when it comes to education. If the best choice for parents is to send their children to private tutors, then he wants school districts to provide the cash for them to do that. Not so fast, says...

A father's lament. (Firsthand).
January 1, 2003... I recently met a young lady, Stacy. Me and Stacy started dating. She has two sons, six and two. My son, Jamie, is three. He's in the [child welfare] system. The judge told me that if I had an apartment before my May 22 court date, I could get...

Dear mr. system: now on the city payroll, a veteran of homelessness gets power's ear. (Frontlines).
January 1, 2003... SEPTEMBER 18, 1998. Sandra Jimenez remembers that day like it was yesterday. That fall afternoon, her two-year-old daughter came home from foster care. From that day on, Jimenez made it her mission to advocate for every parent who's ever been...

House call.
January 1, 2003... A few days after Mayor Bloomberg announced cuts to the city's capital budget, Broadway performer Paula Larke joined religious leaders in praying for him, and to end the shortage of affordable housing in the five boroughs. As part of Housing...

Paint wars. (Youth).
January 1, 2003... HARDWARE STORE OWNERS and young graffiti artists beware: You may soon face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail for selling or buying two of the most lethal weapons threatening the city's quality of life: spray paint and markers. City...

New bunch of Bananas. (Housing).
January 1, 2003... AFTER YEARS OF LIVING under roofs riddled with holes and in apartments with unusable toilets--and in some cases, without heat and hot water--residents of nearly two dozen buildings in the Bronx recently got some news that things may soon start...

Culture clash. (Urbanlegend).
January 1, 2003... SOON AFTER THE PLANES hit the World Trade Center towers last September, the domestic violence hotline at the New York Asian Women's Center started ringing off the hook. Within weeks, complaints of abuse against Chinese women had shot up 50...

Bad Housekeeping: the city's other emergency shelters are no haven from catastrophe. (Inside Track).
January 1, 2003... FOUR SHELTERS. THREE AUDITS. And a lot of rats and roaches. Hilda Garcia, then a 30-year-old mother of two, was living in Queens when firemen kicked everyone out of her building, which didn't have fire escapes. "We went to a hotel for a...

The school that works.
January 1, 2003... A Windy City high school gives low-income teenagers a Jesuit education for just $2,200 a year--if they're willing to work for it. But will New York's Catholic schools give the made-in-Chicago model a chance? EACH WEEKDAY MORNING, about 100...

Market babies.
January 1, 2003... In a post-welfare world, New York spends more on child care than ever before. We've bought a new legion of home-based entrepreneurs--and a shaky start for kids and workers alike. KWAME BOAME IS ONLY 6 YEARS OLD, but he's already got a...

Keeping close counsel: meet rudy's unlikely legacy; a new wave of criminal defense lawyers who give their clients a fighting chance to make good.
January 1, 2003... It's a little surprising to learn that in the city's continuing quality-of-life crackdowns, police in the Bronx routinely arrest gay men for having sex in subway stations. A trivial crime, but one that presents a serious challenge in the...

Government hand out: Bloomberg's new budget directive to city officials; Beg! (Intelligence: The Big Idea).
January 1, 2003... WHEN HE TOOK HIS WHACK at the city budget in November, Mayor Bloomberg spoke of lots of ways to raise revenue, from tax increases to productivity gains. But there's one budget-filler the mayor failed to mention: City officials are also looking...

A taste of power: some rules for modern-day radicals, by one of the city's savviest community organizers. (Intelligence: City Lit).
January 1, 2003... Going Public by Michael Gecan Beacon Press, 191 pages, $25 YOU GOTTA LOVE organizers' stories. Tales of tenants standing up to lousy landlords, communities picketing irresponsible public officials, people using creative tactics to...

Air conditioning: a pharmacist fights asthma on the front line; his counter. (Intelligence: Making Change).
January 1, 2003... IN THE GRIM EMERGENCY wards of hospitals throughout the Bronx and Manhattan, Kimberly Negron has spent countless agonizing hours with her two asthmatic kids, 4-year-old Ashly and 9-year-old Francisco. Each time she rushed her breathless kids to...

Succeeding with sectors: tips for taking the next big thing in economic development from theory to practice. (Intelligence: NYC Inc).
January 1, 2003... AFTER GRADUALLY GATHERING credibility and political currency over the past decade in New York, the phrase "sector development" is suddenly on the tip of everyone's tongue. The City Council has held hearings about it. The current administration...

Letters.
January 1, 2003... KEYSTONE KUDOS Your article on New York's garbage industry, "Wretched Refuse," [November 2002] by Keith Kloor, received great reviews from many people in the Old Forge/Taylor area, as well as throughout the surrounding communities and...