City Limits articles from November 2004

City Limits archives from November 2004

Health commissioner needs community groups.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... [Re: "A Clean Start," by Kai Wright, July/August 2004] Syringe exchange programs opening soon in Queens will save lives--not only those of people who inject drugs but also those with whom they share needles or are sexual partners. These...

Chinatown's Thanksgiving vows.(Frontlines)(weddings )
November 1, 2004... THANKSGIVING IS A TIME when most Americans gather with families and friends to eat and celebrate. For new immigrants in Chinatown, the day's activities are strikingly similar, but for an entirely different reason. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Barbaro at the gates: a working-class hero runs to oust a conservative congressman.(Frank Barbaro)
November 1, 2004... SEVEN YEARS AGO, Democrats on Staten Island picked the gentlemanly former State Assembly-member Eric Vitaliano to run against a young Republican City Council member, Vito Fossella, for the Island's sole congressional seat. They watched in shock...

HUD's give and take.(Housing)(Department of Housing and Urban Development)
November 1, 2004... IN A SEEMINGLY endless game of "now you see it, now you don't," the Bush administration proposed yet another round of cuts to Section 8 rental voucher funding. The latest formula change, which would drop individual subsidies to local...

Working Families Party Soares.(Politics)
November 1, 2004... WITH THE ELECTION just a few weeks away, the Working Families Party has a major target in the crosshairs: Albany's district attorney office. If its candidate, David Soares, wins, it will be the third major victory for the party--after the 2003...

Lead lawsuit tossed.(Housing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A MANHATTAN JUDGE has dismissed a suit brought by Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) and other housing groups challenging the validity of the city's new lead paint laws. Justice Louis York of State Supreme Court found that CPC did not...

Duty calls.(Front Lines)(no desk jobs for NYPD police)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Desk jobs at the NYPD must be filled by civilian employees, not by cops, arbitrator Maurice Benewitz recently ruled. Benewitz ordered the police department to stop giving clerical work to police officers, whose salaries average more than...

Reading, writing and ... revolution?(Front Lines)(teaching social justice)
November 1, 2004... Like biology? Head to Bronx High School of Science. Performing arts? That's LaGuardia. Changing the world? Take your pick: New York City is home to at least 10 public middle and high schools that aim to inspire students with classes that...

Out of sites: affordable housing developers fight to thrive in a brutal real estate market.(Inside Track)
November 1, 2004... HE RAN THE NEW YORK CITY government program that repossessed run-down real estate and sold the property at low prices to new landlords eager to house low-income tenants responsibly. Jerry Salama practically gave these buildings away, hundreds...

Waste not: Mayor Bloomberg says it's Manhattan's turn to help take out New York's trash. His Gracie Mansion neighbors vow to stop a garbage station from opening on their riverbank. Welcome to environmental justice, East Side style.
November 1, 2004... Marta Rodriguez is well acquainted with the reek of trash. For the past 18 years, a steady stream of roachlike trucks has heaved past her house on Bryant Avenue, bearing the city's garbage to transfer stations dotted around the South Bronx....

Speed trap: businesses can't compete without broadband internet--but thousands of New York City companies can't plug in. Here's what's short-circuiting them, and what we can do about it.(Cover Story)
November 1, 2004... High speed "broadband" internet access is no longer the sole domain of dot coms and high-tech companies. Today, fast access to the web is a critical tool for smaller enterprise, from architects and animators to freight forwarders and food...

Occupational therapy: at a Bronx homeless shelter, residents find jobs by finding themselves.
November 1, 2004... Seven years ago, Tom Hameline, a family therapist and vice president of HELP USA, New York City's largest nonprofit provider of transitional housing and services for homeless families, approached a psychologist named Peter Fraenkel and asked...

Work details: New York outpaces other states in aid to low wage earners--and makes it very, very hard to sign up for help.(How to Keep New York Working)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... NEW YORKERS ALWAYS want the best. And usually, we get it. We've got the tallest buildings, the tastiest street food, the lowest crime, the hottest ball teams. But when it comes to making sure poor people can stay afloat on meager paychecks, New...

The latest quick fix for America's health care woes--individual health savings accounts--may not solve much.(New Reports)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The latest quick fix for America's health care woes--individual health savings accounts--may not solve much. Designed for people with hefty deductibles, the accounts offer incentives to save up toward the deductible, letting people draw down on...

Further proof that the recent economic recovery is jobless: Corporate profits have risen 14 percent.(New Reports)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Further proof that the recent economic recovery is jobless: Corporate profits have risen 14 percent, while wages and salaries have inched up by less than 1 percent. That's in striking contrast to past economic recoveries, says this brief, which...

With all the worries over Medicaid's ballooning budget, here's one nugget of good: Federal health spending provides a sizable boost to local economies.(New Reports)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... With all the worries over Medicaid's ballooning budget, here's one nugget of good: Federal health spending provides a sizable boost to local economies. Indeed, the feds coughed up more than $473 billion for health care in 2002, with impressive...

Child care may have expanded under welfare reform, but it's harder to come by nonetheless, says this brief.(New Reports)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Child care may have expanded under welfare reform, but it's harder to come by nonetheless, says this brief. Federal funding has dipped by $2 million since 2001, and states have clamped down on eligibility. More than half the states lowered...

Emotional ecosystems: a psychiatrist documents the trauma of urban renewal.(Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It By Mindy Thompson Fullilove One World/Ballantine Books, 304 pages, $25.95 TO TAKE A PEOPLE'S LAND, to destroy their homes, flatten their...