City Limits articles from May 2005

City Limits archives from May 2005

Goodbye and hello.(EDITORIAL)(Editorial)
May 1, 2005... I'M HERE TO SAY not-quite goodbye. This is my last issue editing City Limits, a project that has been my singular passion for nearly six years. I'm moving on to write more widely about many of the same issues I've taken on here--namely the...

Bingo on Brooklyn.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... The article "The Return of Metro Tech" (January/February 2005) is one of the most well-researched and well-written articles regarding development in Brooklyn that I have ever seen. Well done!!! --Amy Greer Brooklyn

Metrotech's gifts.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2005... In spite of the fact that the article "The Return of MetroTech" is quite lengthy, it fails in a number of ways to give an accurate picture of the impact of Downtown Brooklyn's MetroTech development on the economic health of our borough. ...

Saying goodbye to mom and pop.(FRONTLINES)
May 1, 2005... FOR YEARS, Virginie-Alvine Perrette hovered intently over her video camera, capturing pieces of New York slipping away. Michael's Salon, owned and run by Nick DiSisto, for instance, offered Upper East Side children their first haircuts...

Building insecurity: guards say better jobs make the city safer.(FRONTLINES)
May 1, 2005... JESSE VILLEGAS takes pride in protecting the Empire State Building. A security guard at the 34th Street entrance, he reports to work in the landmark's cavernous marble halls, overseeing turnstiles that scan office workers' I.D. cards. But even...

Nonprofit Coordinating Committee.(Appointments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... MICHAEL CLARK is the new president and executive director of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee (NPCC) of New York, an umbrella organization for more than 1,300 nonprofits. Clark has served as president of Citizens for NYC, a community group,...

Brennan Center for Justice.(Resignations)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... TOM GERETY, executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, is leaving to resume his academic career, including writing books and teaching. The organization is conducting a search for his...

HIV/AIDS and Mental Hygiene.(INS AND OUTS)
May 1, 2005... HIV/AIDS Services at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) welcomes SCOTT KELLERMAN. Kellerman, who took the reins in early March, is in charge of implementing the city's HIV/AIDS Continuum of Care plan. He also...

Mothers on the Move.(INS AND OUTS)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... Mothers on the Move (MOM), a South Bronx social justice organization, and the nonprofit Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), both picked up new executive directors. JAMES MUMM, codirector of MOM, will become the head of...

St. Christopher, Inc.(INS AND OUTS)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... JOSEPH SEMIDEI became executive director and CEO of St. Christopher, Inc. on March 14. The Westchester-based child welfare agency's reputation has been tarnished amid a scandal over forged documents that led to the loss of city contracts and...

Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation.(INS AND OUTS)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... PHAEDRA THOMAS, former director of the Red Hook and Gowanus programs of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation, was promoted to executive director, replacing LEAH ARCHIBALD, who left to serve as director of marketing at the...

Between the sheets.(FRONTLINES)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... HUSTLER, PLAYBOY AND JUGS have got some competition brewing: $pread, a new trade magazine for workers in the sex business. That includes strippers, erotic masseurs, call girls, dominatrixes, rent boys and--judging from the performances at the...

Extreme makeover: renovations vex public housing residents.(FRONTLINES)
May 1, 2005... HOME RENOVATION is a big hit on reality TV: The teary-eyed family returns from a weekend away to discover a new sofa set, a cleaned-out garage, a colorful playroom for the kids. But for residents of New York City public housing, the reality of...

No condoms for convicts.(HEALTH)
May 1, 2005... THE APPEARANCE OF a new "super-strain" of AIDS in February dramatically refocused public attention on the importance of HIV prevention. Needle exchange, condom distribution and high-profile awareness campaigns have been part of the arsenal for...

Moving in and making noise.(FRONTLINES)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... CLAD IN PAJAMAS, shower caps, and hair curlers, housing activists staged a mock move-in at Battery Park City in March to demand that the city make good on its 1989 agreement to spend $1 billion over 20 years on affordable housing. The agreement...

Caregiver Consent.(CHILD WELFARE)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... IN FEBRUARY, Governor Pataki signed into law a new bill giving relatives who care for their kin the authority to make health care and school-related decisions. The Caregiver Consent bill, introduced by Senator Kenneth LaValle and Assemblymember...

In memoriam.(FRONTLINES)(Obituary)
May 1, 2005... CUSHING N. DOLBEARE, an influential housing advocate and researcher, died of cancer on March 17. She was 78. Dolbeare began her career in housing in 1952 at the Citizen's Planning and Housing Association in Baltimore. Since then, she fought...

WIA works.(WORKFORCE)(Workforce Investment Act)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... EMPLOYERS WHO get workers from "one-stop" centers funded by the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) are largely happy with the results, according to a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report. A survey of employers found that about...

New books for Bushwick.(FRONTLINES)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2005... BUSHWICK, one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, needs a lot of things: better housing, better health care, better policing. But the city has decided it also needs better books. As part of a new outreach program designed to help residents...

Women not wanted: female construction workers face chronic unemployment and daunting odds. A new mayoral commission will have to change the face of an industry.(INSIDETRACK)
May 1, 2005... JOYCE COLLIER LIKES to stand back from a day's work and see an empty space filled with something solid. She feels pride that it was her hands and her skill that put it there. But for the past five years, instead of plying her trade as a...

More in store: when Wal-Mart wants to open new stores, it doesn't give up. What can New York do about it?
May 1, 2005... MANHATTAN IS A MECCA for destination shoppers from all over the world. But many less visible parts of the city, especially poor neighborhoods in the outer boroughs, are anything but customer-friendly. Stores are few and far between. Basic...

Good neighbor policies: megaretailers are trying to be better citizens. Here's how they stack up.
May 1, 2005... AT FIRST GLANCE, big box stores look an awfully lot alike. Beloved by consumers, they are scorned by local retailers. All of them want to deliver shareholder value to investors. None of them welcome unions. But beyond that homogenous...

Outside the box: developer Greg O'Connell seeks balanced building for Red Hook.(Interview)
May 1, 2005... ONCE AN EMBLEM of urban blight, Red Hook today is enjoying a mini-renaissance fueled by an eclectic mix of activities, from its busy container port and thriving light manufacturing sector to its growing community of artists and hipsters. While...

For their own good: hundreds of teens are in jail for crimes for which adult offenders would walk. Can the probation department reform its ways?
May 1, 2005... "Nym" was 15 years old when he caught his first case. He was a passenger in a stolen car--though, to this day, he maintains he didn't know the car was stolen before he accepted the ride. The police picked him up after the driver, an older...

Out of mind: who knows what happens inside juvenile facilities?
May 1, 2005... "Everybody calls it Rugburn City," says Carl*, 17, about the Louis Gossett, Jr., Residential Center, where he was incarcerated for gang violence. "I still have a scar on my face to this day." After a verbal spat with a staff member, he says, he...

Social Change, Inc.; Three case studies: how MBAs are transforming the ways nonprofits do business.
May 1, 2005... For New York's nonprofit organizations, this year's federal and local budgets bring reams of bad news. President Bush plans to cut $216 billion from the nation's social services sector in the next five years. Governor Pataki intends to slash...

Prison break: New York City's ex-jails chief prescribes a cure for the nation's incarceration addiction.(CITY LIT)(Book Review)
May 1, 2005... Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration By Michael Jacobson New York University Press, 292 Pages, $29.95 OVER THE PAST 30 years, America has undergone an expansion of its prison, parole and probation...

Illustrated memos: from the office of the city visionary.(Cartoon)
May 1, 2005... O.O.T. C.V. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Summer Youth Employment program will never provide enough jobs for city teens, even if proposed budget cuts are restored. Instead of part-time jobs, why not give the more entrepreneurial youth of...