New York Civic

Henry J. Stern

Henry J. Stern is the founder and president of New York Civic.

Tuesday, June 25th, 2002

Last year the City of New York paid out $581 million in judgments and settlements of legal actions against the city. This sum is three times the budget of Parks & Recreation, my favorite benchmark, and it climbs substantially each year. Not the Parks budget, but the tort claims and judgments.

On June 20, NYCivic co-sponsored, with the Center for Legal Policy of the Manhattan Institute,a program on tort law reform, with Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo as the speaker. We intend to write more on this, citing egregious cases and describing proposals for reform that the State Legislature can consider. aking will write further, amplifying this important and costly issue, but this morning. Just this morning (June 25),a splendid column on the subject by Clyde Haberman appeared in the New York Times. You can read it by clicking on the following hyperlink:

Education Reform: The First Hurdle Surmounted

Henry J. Stern

Henry J. Stern is the founder and president of New York Civic.

Tuesday, June 11th, 2002

The agreement giving Mayor Bloomberg more control over the city school system through the appointment of the chancellor, majority control over a defanged Board of Education, and the new chancellor’s authority to appoint all 32 district superintendents, creates a great opportunity for educational reform.

Alone it will not do much to improve conditions in the classroom. It does, however, provide a dramatic but limited opportunity to turn some of the rascals out who have impeded education because they are unable or unwilling to do their jobs. After all, why should the school bureaucracy be that much better than the FBI or the CIA?

Point/Counterpoint: A "Wrap" for Central Park?

Henry J. Stern

Henry J. Stern is the founder and president of New York Civic.

Wednesday, May 29th, 2002

The following column appeared Tuesday, May 28, in the Ideas and Opinion page of the New York Daily News, under the title: “Point/Counterpoint: A ‘wrap’ for Central Park?” Clifford Ross wrote in support of the Christo project, the article I wrote in opposition to it begins here:

I really like Mayor Bloomberg and appreciate the good work he has done with his appointees, budget and program for education. I am not, however, enthused over his support for a 22-year-old scheme to build 15-foot-tall structures containing thousands of orange streamers over the walkways of Central Park.

The proposal from Christo and Jeanne-Claude is not as physically damaging as their earlier plan in that it would not drive holes into rocks or landscape.

Crime: Perception and Reality

Henry J. Stern

Henry J. Stern is the founder and president of New York Civic.

Thursday, May 9th, 2002

The most important achievement of the eight-year Giuliani administration was the reduction of crime in New York City by more than half. But, like cockroaches, criminals keep coming back and the city, its people and its reputation are always at risk either when the crime rate increases, or a particularly ghastly crime occurs.

In recent weeks, there have been a number of well-publicized homicides, rapes and escapes from police and corrections custody. It may be that these crimes now receive more attention than they did previously because they are fewer in number, but the result has been to heighten public sensitivity and concern in this area.

The Gathering Storm - 2002

Henry J. Stern

Henry J. Stern is the founder and president of New York Civic.

Monday, April 29th, 2002

Four months into his term, Mayor Bloomberg is beginning to feel crosswinds from people who are not satisfied with his budget proposals.

The potential adversaries include people who want to be mayor themselves; political leaders who want access to the patronage and contracts they have not received for many years; and advocates for various causes who believe, in good faith, that the city should spend more, tax more, redistribute wealth, and provide additional social services.

A number of factors contributed to Bloomberg’s surprising election. Democrats who disliked Mark Green’s personality or ideology played a role, as did Democratic party leaders who wanted another shot at the mayoralty in 2005. A Green victory would have tied up the position until 2009, a long time to wait for a job. By deserting Green, they helped themselves. (A similar situation occurred in 1997, when Ruth Messinger was the Democratic nominee, and it was in the interest of many Democratic politicians to see that she lost, so the mayoralty would be an open race in 2001, as it was.)