THE STATE WE'RE IN.(New York City's budget deficit)

State of the city: wet, congested, hard up. You got your rain, your traffic, your budget problems, plus Latrell on the block and twenty-minute delays on the Ronkonkoma line of the L.I.R.R. The usual stuff.

Gifford Miller, the City Council Speaker, who is just thirty-three but is often described as the second-most-powerful elected official in town, had a different set of observations to pass along last Tuesday, in his State of the City address to Council colleagues and invited guests. In the lineup of "State of" speeches, the City Council model comes late and ranks low; not only is there the State of the Union and the State of the State but the Mayor (the first-most-powerful elected official in town) gives a State of the City address of his own, in January--and, really, how many states can a city be in? Miller's performance, though, had some of the trappings of stateliness. The crowd in the Council Chambers, at City Hall, was more raucous than usual, and for the first time in recent memory someone had hung bunting from the balcony railing. Miller's parents were in attendance. Behind the Speaker was a blue backdrop adorned, Bush style, with the slogan "A Fair Share for NYC." It might as well have read "Miller for Mayor in 2005."

His topic, generally, was the city's dire fiscal situation--this year's projected budget deficit is $3.4 billion--and his beef was familiar but apt. "Just last year, New York City sent Washington $6.3 billion more than we got back, and we sent Albany $3.5 billion more than we got back," he said. "Simply put: we pay more than our fair share, we get back less than our fair share. . . . It's been going on too long, it's wrong, and it's time we put an end to it." He proceeded to light into the President, and then the Governor, for shunning the city in its time of need. "Mr. President and Governor Pataki: Something's got to give." And so on.

Miller's attack on Pataki stood in contrast to another indicator that day of the state of the city, which could be found on page B8 of the morning's Times: a ...