The city’s economy is slowing and construction costs remain extraordinarily high, but the Bloomberg administration still has its sights set on far-reaching development projects. Will New York be able to maintain its fast pace of residential and commercial renewal? How are neighborhoods responding to zoning changes intended to spur growth?
Read MoreState leaders are debating proposals to close several near-empty juvenile facilities and revamp a system that has long invested only modest resources in community-based alternatives. Meanwhile, New York City is deploying family supports and services designed to keep more young people from being locked up, send others home faster, and still ensure public safety. Could New York have a juvenile justice system that depends less on incarceration and detention?
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 MoreElected in a landslide in 2006 with a strong mandate for change, Governor Eliot Spitzer’s political fortunes soon took a turn for the worse. This winter, he’s gone from “reformer” to “conciliator.” Can he make a comeback and achieve his ambitious agenda? What will it take for the governor to regain his political clout?
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 MoreA fast-growing number of people receiving government-funded developmental disabilities services in New York are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. And in city schools, the number of pupils with autism has increased 72 percent in only five years. How are government, service providers, schools and parents responding?
Read MoreOn July 1, 2008, New York City emerged from 30 years of financial oversight by the state with the expiration of key provisions of the 1978 Financial Emergency Act. What does this pivotal event in the city’s fiscal history mean for the future of the nation’s fourth largest governmental budget? What requirements will sunset, and what procedures will remain in place?
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 MoreThe federal immigration policy debate may soon reach its climactic moment, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Meanwhile, our city’s immigrant communities face unique—and not so unique—local challenges related to schools, poverty, housing and more. If you read or listen to the mainstream English-language press, what are you missing?
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 MoreNearly $3 billion in state funds will be spent on corrections and criminal justice services in New York this year. Under the state's rst Democratic administration in 12 years, will there be a new vision—and new policies—on sentencing, prison conditions and drug treatment, health care and education behind bars?
Read MoreThe office of the governor is about to change hands for the first time in 12 years, likely representing a seismic shift—not just in ideology, but in management approaches, leadership styles and appointments. An in-depth discussion of the challenges facing New York in the areas of health care, affordable housing, public education and government reform.
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?
Read MoreNew York's Family Court ensures neither fair representation nor timely decisions in cases involving the most cherished and personal aspect of our lives, the relationships between parents and their children. This winter, new state legislative mandates, the impact of the Nixzmary Brown case and new initiatives at the city's Administration for Children's Services have converged to put new pressures on this overstressed institution.
Read MoreOver the past year and half, the state legislature and Governor Pataki have modified New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws. How effective have thosechanges been? Is further reform needed? What else could be done to improve the state’s drug policies, increase access to treatment for offenders and make alternatives to incarceration more meaningful and effective?
Read MoreStudents with too few credits, who have discipline problems or who lose interest in school often drop out or are placed in alternative programs. Not surprisingly, young people of color are most likely to leave school without a degree and end up in poverty – and sometimes in prison. How can the city’s schools better engage disconnected students?
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