Who Speaks for the Carriage Horses? - NYTimes.com

Who Speaks for the Carriage Horses? - NYTimes.com (Click for full article)

(Excerpt)

If only Teddy could talk. Then we would know what he thinks of the politicians and activists and drivers who argue about his future. He could expound on Manhattan traffic, its pollution, the cold, the heat, the hay and the shrieking girls clutching dolls who pet his nose on Grand Army Plaza.

Teddy is 11 years old, a Percheron-cross draft horse from Pennsylvania’s Amish country — a pinto with a coat the color of warm cocoa and whipped cream. He has blinders on. But even those in the know cannot foresee how long it will take for Mayor Bill de Blasio to fulfill his campaign promise to banish the Central Park carriage horses as his first legislative act.

The City Council, now led by the sponsor of a 2010 bill to ban horse-drawn carriages, Melissa Mark-Viverito, has yet to discuss the issue.

Activists who want to end the carriage-horse trade contributed more than $1.3 million to help elect Mr. de Blasio and council members who supported a ban with a solution: Replace all the horses with a fleet of antique-styleelectric cars to serve tourists, not just in Central Park, but all over the city.

DOT Lowers Prospect Park West Speed Limit from 30 mph to 25

DOT Lowers Prospect Park West Speed Limit Following Park Slope Boy's Death: Gothamist

An anonymous Park Slope woman may have had enough of the flowers and teddy bears marking the spot on Prospect Park West where 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein was killed by a driver last October, but the DOT erected the most gratifying memorial of all on Friday: Signs officially declaring the speed limit lowered from 30 mph to 25.

DOT spokesperson Nick Mosquera said yesterday that the agency has "greatly expanded our fight against speeding across the city using the introduction of speed cameras near schools, which the Mayor announced are now issuing violations instead of warnings, expanding neighborhood slow zones and through education campaigns. On Prospect Park West, the speed limit is being lowered as a safety measure following an evaluation of the corridor. Installation of the new signage began today."

Cohen Eckstein's mother, Amy Cohen, said she hopes that the increased attention to traffic deaths will prevent other families from having to endure the loss of a loved one:

I can't imagine what motivated the individual who tried to take down the community memorial for Sammy. What I do know is that there is a groundswell of support for immediate action.

Sammy's memorial is for him, but it is also a testament to the many families in my neighborhood who are coming together to right this wrong and fight for drivers to be careful and slow down. And it has made an impact. Today, the Department of Transportation reduced the speed limit on Prospect Park West to 25 miles per hour and retimed the lights to slow the speed of drivers.

We hope this reduction of speed on our street is the start of an effort to reduce the speed limit on many streets in NYC. Slower speed limits are proven to save lives. They allow drivers more time to react to avoid crashes and when crashes do occur, injuries are substantially reduced. At 20 miles per hour, a pedestrian has a 95% chance of surviving; at 40 miles per hour the survival rate is less than 30%. Although it is too late to have prevented Sammy’s death, we hope this change is part of a larger initiative that saves lives

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced earlier this week that a multi-agency working group will release a report in February detailing safety measures to prevent traffic fatalities, including the use of reduced speed limits.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Lauren Evans in News on Jan 18, 2014 2:00 PM

The Inequality Problem - David Brooks in NY Times

David Brooks

The Inequality Problem - NYTimes.com

Suddenly the whole world is talking about income inequality. But, as this debate goes on, it is beginning to look as though the thing is being misconceived. The income inequality debate is confusing matters more than clarifying them, and it is leading us off in unhelpful directions.

In the first place, to frame the issue as income inequality is to lump together different issues that are not especially related. What we call “inequality” is caused by two different constellations of problems.

At the top end, there is the growing wealth of the top 5 percent of workers. This is linked to things like perverse compensation schemes on Wall Street, assortative mating (highly educated people are more likely to marry each other and pass down their advantages to their children) and the superstar effect (in an Internet economy, a few superstars in each industry can reap global gains while the average performers cannot).

At the bottom end, there is a growing class of people stuck on the margins, generation after generation. This is caused by high dropout rates, the disappearance of low-skill jobs, breakdown in family structures and so on.

If you have a primitive zero-sum mentality then you assume growing affluence for the rich must somehow be causing the immobility of the poor, but, in reality, the two sets of problems are different, and it does no good to lump them together and call them “inequality.”

Second, it leads to ineffective policy responses. If you think the problem is “income inequality,” then the natural response is to increase incomes at the bottom, by raising the minimum wage.

But raising the minimum wage may not be an effective way to help those least well-off. Joseph J. Sabia of San Diego State University and Richard V. Burkhauser of Cornell looked at the effects of increases in the minimum wage between 2003 and 2007. Consistent with some other studies, they find no evidence that such raises had any effect on the poverty rates.

That’s because raises in the minimum wage are not targeted at the right people. Only 11 percent of the workers affected by such an increase come from poor households. Nearly two-thirds of such workers are the second or third earners living in households at twice the poverty line or above.

NY State Allocates $67 Million For Bike & Pedestrian Paths

Bike riders on the Pulaski Bridge will have their own lane

NYS allocates $67 million for bike and pedestrian paths: Gothamist

It's not just New York City that'll be treated to new bike lanes in the near future: today, Governor Cuomo announced he'll be allocating $67 million in funding to build more bike and pedestrian paths across the state. We'll be getting almost $15 million for specific bike lane projects (see below).
The funding aims to bolster 63 bicycle, pedestrian and multi-use path transportation enhancement projects statewide, covering about 80 percent of the cost of each State DOT-helmed project; the rest of the funds will be covered by a project sponsor. And beyond new bike and pedestrian facilities, projects will focus on adding more accessible sidewalks, improving access to public transportation for pedestrians, and the rehabilitation of unused railroad corridors for trail use.

"We are modernizing New York State’s transportation system while making it safer,” Cuomo announced yesterday. “From building new facilities for bicycles and pedestrians to supporting historic highway programs, these projects will provide new tourism and recreational opportunities for New Yorkers and visitors. We will continue to upgrade New York’s infrastructure to expand tourism and economic development while improving our communities."

New York City will receive $14.8 million in funding, which will support projects like the adding bicycle and pedestrian lanes on the Pulaski Bridge (FINALLY!), the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway-Gowanus connector and an expansion of the Hell Gate bridge's pedestrian and bicycle paths. Dozens of bike and pedestrian initiatives on Long Island, in Westchester and Rockland Counties and upstate will see an increase in funding as well.

Click here for a breakdown of the NYC allocations.

NY Rising Community Reconstruction Fund to include Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Canarsie • Brooklyn Daily

NY Rising Community Reconstruction Fund to include Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Canarsie • Brooklyn Daily
(excerpt)
Local leaders are unimpressed by the decision to include Mill Basin, Marine Park, and Canarsie in a program that will invest more than $16 million in the area’s vital infrastructure to make it more storm-resistant, because residents will first have to put their mouths where the money is.

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Murrow High School’s chess team wins city title, eyes state and national titles too

Murrow High School’s chess team wins city title, eyes state and national titles too | Brooklyn Daily Eagle

By Rob Abruzzese
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Azeez Alade had a plan. He went into the championship game against teammate Alex Ostrovskiy with a move in mind that he was so sure that would work that he couldn't wait to use it. He methodically played his game, slowly setting up the move, but when the time finally came to execute it he realized that he had fallen into a trap.

"His thought process is incredible," Alade said of Ostrovskiy. "When he plays, he plays very solid and safe, but there is always a trick. In my game, I wanted to play this one move so badly, but he set a trap for me and I realized that it would have lost almost immediately. I thought it was such a perfect move, but he lays down so many traps that when you step on one it's over."

That's what Ostrovskiy likes to do, he sets traps and waits for opponents to fall into them. It's a strategy that he used on Sunday when he took first place and led Edward R. Murrow High School's chess team to victory at the 48th Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships at the Brooklyn Marriott.

Hundreds of students from both public and private high schools from in and around New York City gathered at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn on Sunday to participate in the 2014 New York City High School Chess Championship.Hundreds of students from both public and private high schools from in and around New York City gathered at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn on Sunday to participate in the 2014 New York City High School Chess Championship.