Nearly 400,000 people use Penn Station every day, twice as many as used it when it was built. In 1993, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposed the conversion of the Farley Post Office building into a new Penn Station. Despite longstanding support from nearly every stakeholder, the project is only now ready to break ground 20 years later. What was behind the delays?
Read MoreMajor changes are afoot in juvenile justice. Governor Paterson recently proposed long-awaited reforms for upstate facilities where young teens are incarcerated. But he also proposed large cuts to alternative-to-detention and diversion programs. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg administration has merged the city’s juvenile justice agency with children’s services, potentially accelerating expansion of community- and family-centered services for juvenile delinquents and other young people.
Read MoreAs New York City struggles with the great recession, infrastructure development and renewal promise new jobs and long-term growth. Transportation, energy, high technology and communication infrastructure projects are all planned and funded. How quickly will they provide new jobs? Are they already?
Read MoreNew York City is home to a variety of “community schools,” public schools that provide an array of health services, social supports and enrichment programs for students and families. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has promoted community schools as a strategy for using local resources to improve student success and is encouraging states to expand their numbers.
Read MoreNew York City’s high schools have undergone a powerful transformation during the Bloomberg years, with more than 200 new small schools and dozens of others closed or reshaped. The city’s education department has introduced school competition, giving families unprecedented choice. But how has all this worked out for the students at-risk of dropping out?
Read MoreThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Obama administration’s 2010 budget plan include resources and tools for large-scale job creation, increased benefits for low-income and unemployed people, refundable tax credits, and the prospect of new flexible funds for child and family services. What is Washington offering the states, and how will New York respond?
Read MoreSuburban growth and development away from central cities have increased segregation and racial inequalities in the U.S. Using the Twin Cities region as a lens, Orfield shows why policy makers must shift from neighborhood-level responses and develop regional solutions that promote equity and integration for housing, jobs, and schools.
Read MoreLike New York, most states face deepening budget gaps and are slashing education and human services. Nationwide, states pour $50 billion a year into incarceration. New York led the way in expanding its prison system more than 25 years ago; should it lead the way in the other direction today? Will the federal government take a new approach to criminal justice in an Obama administration?
Read MoreThe boom is over, and the city’s families and neighborhoods are beginning to feel the consequences. Mayor Bloomberg managed seven years of rapid budget growth but now, as he prepares a run for a third term, the city faces potentially massive shortfalls. How fast and how hard will a sputtering economy and shrinking revenues hit city services?
Read MoreForeclosures are rampant in Newark’s working-class neighborhoods as the credit crisis and economic slowdown threaten the city’s commercial recovery. What will it take to stabilize and invigorate a growth economy and new employment opportunities in a city that is New York’s largest urban neighbor?
Read MoreAmerica’s cities are confronting growing populations, a changing climate and rising fuel prices. While political leaders debate the development of alternative energy sources, most experts agree energy efficiency is fundamental to the urban future. Can cities combat global warming and the high cost of power with less wasteful infrastructure and other strategies?
Read MoreNew York has long depended on subsidy programs to facilitate affordable housing development. But because most such incentives sunset over time, tens of thousands of units have reverted to market rate over the last decade, and 15,000 more may do so in the near future. What strategies and regulatory structures can be put in place to assure affordability not just for the present, but the future as well?
Read MoreWhen Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office one of his top priorities was to repair the city’s ailing public schools. The state gave him control of the school system five years ago and must soon decide whether to extend that power to future administrations. Are the schools more accountable today? Students and teachers more successful?
Read MoreThe Bloomberg administration is mounting an all-out campaign to reduce the length of time children spend in foster care and to make preventive and post-reunification supports for families more effective. Few disagree with these goals. But in a child welfare system managed by nonprofits, the city must use its power over contracts to drive change. It’s an enormous and controversial challenge.
Read MoreThe New York City Housing Authority is in dire financial straits. Although the state recently increased its rent subsidy, it will barely make a dent in the $225 million annual shortfall and renewed federal investment is nowhere on the horizon. A roundtable discussion with key stakeholders to determine what can be done to rescue public housing—the city’s primary source of affordable housing, and home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers.
Read MoreAs part of PlaNYC 2030, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed opening 290 city schoolyards to the public during non-school hours. Reclaiming urban community space can strengthen families and neighborhoods, but it's never as easy as "throwing open the gates." What should the city do to ensure that these spaces benefit communities, families, and children?
Read MoreWith large-scale developments underway in every borough, the physical face of New York City is already changing on a scale unseen in decades—even as the Bloomberg administration is planning for sustainable growth of nearly a million more residents by 2030. What are the implications formore livable neighborhoods and community renewal?
Read MoreNew Yorkers' demand for low-cost English classes vastly outstrips supply. There are far fewer subsidized English classes for adults offered in New York City today than 16 years ago-despite the massive increase in the immigrant population and the fact that English speakers are much more likely to earn a living wage. What are the cultural and economic implications?
Read MoreParents who combine the uncompensated work of childcare with paid employment have two jobs, yet workplaces and government have done little to accommodate their dual roles. Why is domestic work unpaid? How does the U.S. compare to other countries in terms of work/family policy?
Read MoreDespite popular rhetoric and policy initiatives in support of consumer-friendly services and greater individual choice, many city residents with developmental disabilities still struggle with unemployment, segregation and services tailored to the broad-brush needs of the population, not to individual people. Will the latest state efforts to encourage person-centered planning open up valuable new alternatives?
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