|
|
Newsletters 2008
January
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
January 28, 2008
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #1
An aspiring restaurateur contacted my office after an error in city paperwork threatened his 15-year-old dream of opening a small café.
The man had signed a long-term lease for a corner storefront near Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan. But the city Department of Buildings (DOB) refused to issue him a building permit, saying the space no longer was legally commercial. A 1977 certificate of occupancy, DOB pointed out, made no reference to storefronts -- only to apartments. Yet since its construction in 1935, the building had had occupied storefronts as well as occupied apartments, the man said. Omitting reference to storefronts was an oversight.
To prove it, he tracked down commercial telephone listings for the storefronts, along with certificates of occupancy from 1971 and 1939. Apart from that, he said, he provided DOB with "countless letters from residents and even local politicians" attesting to the building's ongoing commercial history. All this "had no effect," the man said. "...It's almost as if NYC does not want small businesses."
So he turned to my office. One of my staffers, Ralph Perfetto, sent the man's documentation to the Manhattan borough commissioner as well as to other appropriate parties, along with explanatory letters that clearly and succinctly pointed out the oversight. "Within a single day," the man later wrote me, "DOB changed its attitude from that of doubt and suspicion to a willingness to recognize this as a problem and actually assist me in correcting it. "My construction permit was finally issued."
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #2
A Manhattan woman whose home was infested with bedbugs contacted my office because of her dire need of a furniture grant. The woman, a cancer survivor, had gone to her welfare center to apply for the grant. Once there, however, she was told she had to make an appointment with her caseworker. That was fine with her, but, despite repeated attempts, she had had no success in reaching her caseworker.
On her behalf, we contacted her welfare center, spoke with her caseworker and made the required appointment. We also made sure that the woman knew what documents to bring to the appointment to support her grant application.
City Fourth Graders Subjected to Too Many Standardized Tests
Last week I joined irate parents, educators and a group called "Time Out From Testing" to protest the fact that school children are being forced to spend two days field-testing questions for next year’s fourth grade English Language Arts exam. This follows three days of state and city testing. And the fourth-graders also were to be subjected to two additional days of “predictive math tests." That's seven days of testing out of 15 school days. Enough is enough. As I've said before, our schools are turning into test-prep factories. Teaching kids how to take tests doesn’t make them excited about learning, and it doesn't lead to a well-rounded education.
Report: DOE Short-Changing Female Students at CTE High Schools
A new study I conducted shows that city Career and Technical Education (CTE) high schools are short-changing female students when it comes to recruiting and retaining them in programs that lead to high-paying, non-traditional jobs in construction, computers, automotive maintenance and other male-dominated fields.
In all, girls account for only 41 percent of all students at the 18 CTE schools. The male-female imbalance in some CTE schools is startling: at Automotive High School it's 95 percent v. 5 percent; Alfred E. Smith CTE High School, 88 percent v. 12 percent; Aviation High School, 85 percent v. 15 percent; Transit Technology High School, 80 percent v. 20 percent.
My study shows that the lack of CTE opportunities for girls allows false stereotypes to fester. For one thing, the city Department of Education (DOE) fails to give adequate information to middle-school girls about CTE programs. For another, in predominantly female schools it offers too few advanced placement courses in science and math. Women in New York City are over-represented in low-paying jobs. It’s time to eliminate CTE-based gender inequities, especially since the mayor, in his 2008 State of the City address, promised to expand CTE programs. The days when boys become engineers and girls become housewives have long since passed.
My report on this vital issue, titled Blue School, Pink School: Gender Imbalance at New York City CTE High Schools, is posted here.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
January 22, 2008
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #1
Saying no one would listen to him, a distraught Brooklyn man contacted my office for help with a bureaucratic snafu that had festered for more than 27 years. The city Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) had sent the man a letter that said he was in arrears for more than $4,500 in child support. He was supposed to have paid this amount, the letter said, from September, 1980 to March, 1984. Problem is, he had divorced in March, 1980 -- and he and his former wife had had no children. That being the case, child support should have been a non-issue. It became an issue because he had been ordered to pay spousal support, and somehow spousal support became confused with child support. Some months, he wound up paying both. We contacted OCSE and submitted the appropriate documents. It was determined that, rather than owe an additional $4,500 in support for nonexistent children, the man was due a refund of $4,650. In a follow-up phone call, the man quite happily confirmed that he had received a check for that amount.
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #2
A Queens mother, desperate and distressed, contacted my office because Con Edison was threatening to shut off her electricity, due to nearly $3,000 in unpaid bills. Problem is, she cares at home for a disabled daughter, age 7, who relies on a medical device that is powered by electricity. That very day the mother had applied for HEAP, the low-income Home Energy Assistance Program, but she feared her application could not be processed before the cut-off date. One of my staffers, Elsa Suazo, contacted Con Edison on her behalf and worked out a payment plan. For four years, the mother is to pay $50 a month in addition to her regular bill. The mother later expressed her enormous relief and gratitude.
Investigation Under Way in No-Bid DOE Contracts
I've spoken out for some time about the troubling and growing prevalence of no-bid contracts on the part of the city Department of Education (DOE). I'm gratified that state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has announced an audit of such awards, which in the past five years have totaled more than $300 million. Stay tuned....
Public Opinion Survey to Begin; New Accountability Tool Welcome
For nearly two years, my staff has been working on a comprehensive five-borough survey that will assess citizen satisfaction with city services. Last year we began working with the mayor's office on this important and long-overdue project. As the mayor noted in his State of the City address, we'll reach out to about 100,000 New Yorkers. It's a significant step, and my staff and I look forward to working with the mayor's office in coming months. I also applaud the mayor for announcing what he called "the mother of all accountability tools," or Citywide Performance Reporting. The intent is to provide on-line data in more than 500 categories from 45 city agencies, everything from fire department response times to the number of trees planted by the city Department of Parks & Recreation. The mayor correctly says, "Good government is about transparency and accountability." All in all, this is an excellent move.
FDA Releases Advisory on Cough, Cold Products for Young Children
Protecting New York children is one of my priorities, and I want to alert parents and caregivers to a new cold-remedy advisory from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA warns that over-the-counter cough and cold products should not be given to infants and children younger than 2 years of age. Serious and potentially life-threatening side effects can occur from such use, the FDA says. The products include decongestants and cough suppressants with active ingredients containing expectorants and antihistamines. For the full FDA advisory on this topic, please click here.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
January 14, 2008
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #1
The exasperated father of a 7-year-old girl contacted my office after what he said was a two-year struggle to correct his daughter's birth certificate. The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Office of Vital Records, he said, had lost the relevant paperwork twice, including his daughter's original birth certificate. And because of the delay in getting an accurate birth certificate, he said, he was unable to enroll the girl in a private school. Shortly after my staff intervened, he received the corrected birth certificate. In a follow-up letter to me, he commended my staff for its persistence and expertise. We are, as he put it, "on the front lines to help citizens who find themselves powerless and in need."
Real People, Real Problems, Real Results, Case #2
A distressed Brooklyn woman called me because, just before Christmas, she was on the brink of being left without gas service, meaning no heat and no hot water. Noticing a gas leak in her home, she had immediately called her supplier, who promptly turned off the gas. A plumber fixed the defect, but when the woman called to have gas service restored, she was told she'd have to wait several days. When she advised that she was a senior, she was told she'd have to wait at least one day. My staff contacted the supplier, who demanded proof that the woman was indeed a senior. We obtained documents attesting to her date of birth, quickly faxed them to the supplier and then called to confirm receipt. When we checked in with the woman later that day, she told us that gas service was being restored at that very moment.
City Council Hearing Planned on Bronx Day Care Shutdowns
City Councilman Bill de Blasio and I are planning a City Council hearing to investigate the closing of the Lucille Murray Child Development Center as well as the earlier shutdowns of three other day care centers in the Bronx. We also ask that Lucille Murray, which the city Administration for Children's Services (ACS) closed on Jan. 11th, be reopened. And I once again urge ACS to appoint an interim sponsor, such as a local, trusted not-for-profit, for Lucille Murray. This day care center has the capacity to serve up to 253 low-income children, and public and private documents do not support the stated rationale for the closure. ACS says the shutdown was due, in part, to an "extensive physical upgrade at a very high cost," including $650,000 for roof repair. Yet recent city inspections revealed no serious structural problems.
For my full remarks on this matter, click here.
More Family Court Lawyers, Judges and New Office of the Child Advocate Needed
Last week I spoke at a City Council hearing on Family Court, an often-overlooked but vital element of the child welfare system. In fact, a study I conducted in September 2006 found that child welfare attorneys were overwhelmed by high caseloads. Exacerbating this was an attrition rate of 22.6 percent. ACS had failed to hire and train replacements in a timely manner, leaving attorneys juggling 50 to 150 cases. With an extra $3.4 million in city funds -- which I strongly advocated -- ACS later said it had hired more attorneys and decreased attrition. This must continue.
At the hearing, I also renewed my call for more Family Court judges. In recent years, Family Court has seen a dramatic increase in the number of cases, due largely to the State Permanency Law of 2005, which mandates more frequent hearings for children in the child welfare system. The stepped-up caseload also is a legacy of the tragic and widely-reported beating death of Nixzmary Brown, 7, in 2006. But despite the much-higher caseload, the number of Family Court judges has not changed since 1991: Then and now, only 47 judges are permanently assigned to Family Court. More judges, and more child welfare attorneys, will enable both groups to give added attention to sensitive, complex cases.
Additionally, I once again urged the state to create an independent Office of the Child Advocate, which would have subpoena power to investigate child fatalities and abuse allegations. This office would have oversight of the entire system to meet the mandate of ensuring a safe environment for all children.
Betsy Gotbaum This Week
January 7, 2008
ACS Must Keep Day Care Centers Open
I'm calling on the city Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to appoint an interim sponsor so that the Lucille Murray Child Development Center, one of the largest day care centers in the Bronx, remains open. ACS announced that it would shut down Lucille Murray on Friday, Jan. 11.
Lucille Murray cares for 253 pre-school and school-age children in Mott Haven, one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the South Bronx. In closing Lucille Murray, ACS displays disregard for families who depend on it. In fact, the closure puts hundreds of families in a bind. It also may put children at risk as parents scramble to find other childcare options, which won't be easy: ACS additionally has closed Marcus Garvey, Mott Haven and Frank Whelan day care centers in the Bronx, a loss of more than 400 child-care slots.
To be sure, Lucille Murray has had a history of financial mismanagement. But, rather than penalize children and working parents by shutting it down, ACS should transfer Lucille Murray operations to another sponsoring board, as it has in similar cases. For my news release on this important matte, click here.
NYC Students Inundated with Tests; DOE Must Scale Back
The city Department of Education (DOE) is bombarding public school students with standardized tests, such that city schools have morphed into test-prep factories. Third-graders, for example, must take about 12 standardized tests a year. This means that, in addition to their usual schoolwork, 8- and 9-year-olds prep for and take a standardized test roughly every three weeks.
In the case of these third-graders, only two of the 12 tests are required by the state. The others are merely test-prep. Unfortunately, this marathon testing has had little impact on student progress. In November, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal check on claims of student improvement, found virtually no gains in New York City.
I'm calling on DOE to be less test-centric. DOE instead should allot more time for history, geography, the arts and other subjects not covered by standardized exams. Simply teaching kids how to take tests doesn’t generate interest in learning. Nor does it lead to good education. For my news release on the issue of too much DOE testing, click here.
Pathmark Should Stay Open
I took part in a public protest of the planned closing of a Pathmark supermarket on the Lower East Side. More than just a place to buy food, this Pathmark is a community anchor. For 25 years, it has allowed thousands of New Yorkers to buy affordable food for their families, and it's clearly a hub of local activity. We need this Pathmark to remain open.
Beware of ESCOs -- Not All Result in Savings on Utility Bills
An indignant Bronx man contacted my office after signing up with an Energy Service Company, or ESCO, which had promised to save him money. Yet when this man received his first utility bill, it was $15 higher than his previous monthly bill. The next month it was $14 higher.
His was one of several complaints I've received about ESCOs. Some ESCOs, certainly, promise to save you money and do just that. With others, you actually pay more. And some ESCOs seem to prey on seniors and on New Yorkers with a limited command of English. The bottom line is, do your research before signing up. The time-tested rule of caveat emptor -- let the buyer beware -- applies as much to ESCOs as to anything else.
|
|
|
