9/11 Health and Compensation Act Becomes Political Football
The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, H.R. 847, first introduced in February 2009 by Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Peter King (R-N.Y.), and Michael McMahon (D-N.Y.) became a bartering tool for Republicans this year.
The law would allocate approximately $7.4 billion to individuals whose health was affected by exposure to toxins at the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
James Zadroga was an NYPD officer and first responder at the site of the terrorist attacks. Officer Zadroga died of a respiratory illness in 2006. Zadroga’s illness is believed to have been contracted while he was working at the site.
The majority of the House voted in favor of H.R. 847 in July 2010, but it did not receive the needed two-thirds vote to pass.
Republicans shot it down, arguing that the $7.4 billion would add to the deficit. They contested the “suspension of rules” procedure, which allowed the bill to move quickly through the House without voting on amendments.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) expressed his discontent with the vote in a widely publicized outburst on the House floor. A YouTube video of Weiner’s heated debate with Republicans after the defeat has received nearly 70,000 views.
The bill passed in the House of Representatives with a 268-160 vote on Sept. 29; with only 17 Republicans voting in favor.
On Dec. 9, the bill was stalled in the Senate. The vote was 57-42 to not discuss H.R. 847. Republican senators wanted to force a vote on extending Bush-era tax cuts by refusing to take action on other issues.
NY Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have modified the bill in hopes of getting it passed in the senate before the year ends, trimming the bill’s price tag by $1.2 billion—from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion.The bill was passed unanimously in the senate and made swift progress through the House. On Thursday Dec. 23, Mayor Bloomberg, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Representatives Maloney, King and Nadler celebrated the passage of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, along with First Responders, outside 7 World Trade Center.
Failed Times Square Bombing Attempt
What might have been New York’s worst tragedy since 9/11, a failed attempt to explode a car bomb near Times Square ended in a smoldering fizzle. Faisal Shahzad, a 31-year-old naturalized American citizen, attempted to explode a car bomb in Times Square on May 1.
According to the FBI, in December 2009, Shahzad received explosives training in Pakistan from an individual affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban, a militant extremist group based in Pakistan.
Sharzard received $13,000 from a co-conspirator in Pakistan. He then purchased a rifle, an SUV, and explosives. On May 1, Shahzad drove the car, a Nissan Pathfinder, loaded with the improvised explosive and incendiary devices to Manhattan and parked it near the corner of 45th Street and Seventh Avenue. After parking the car and triggering the device, Shahzad returned to his home in Connecticut.
Three days after the attempted bombing, Shahrzad attempted to flee the United States to Dubai, but was arrested at JFK Airport. Shahzad admitted in court that he had received bomb-making training in Pakistan. He also admitted that he had brought the Pathfinder to Times Square and attempted to detonate the bomb inside. He was then put on trial, where he was found guilty. Shahzad was captured and sentenced to life in prison by Manhattan federal court.
Fracking Feud
Opponents say the watershed could be contaminated if gas companies are not careful.
A number of bills were introduced to the Assembly and Senate throughout the year, some more extreme than others, calling for a delay of action until further investigation by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
By December, both the Assembly and Senate had passed a bill that placed a moratorium on fracking until early next year. Gov. David Paterson vetoed the bill on Dec. 12. He established an executive order that maintained a moratorium on high-volume and horizontal fracking until July of 2011. The executive order, however, allowed for the continued development of vertical drilling, which opponents are calling the “Paterson loophole.”
Actor Mark Ruffalo has been the celebrity face of opposition to fracking. Ruffalo says neither vertical drilling, which has been known to contaminate water sources, nor horizontal fracking should be allowed to develop in the watershed area without due DEC investigation. Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo will feel the pressure from both the gas industry and activists in January when he takes office.
Park51 Mosque Controversy Simmers, Could Reignite
The frenzy of media attention peeked around Sept. 11, when at least one man carried out a threat to publicly burn the Koran, Islam’s main text, in retaliation for the mosque’s location.
Since then, the issue has slowly gone from a boil to a simmer. Though it is clear the story of Park51 isn’t over yet.
In November, news broke that organizers of Park51 are applying for a $5 million federal grant. The use of taxpayer money for the project could stir further controversy.
Also, late in December, the New York Post reported that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is considering purchasing the now closed St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan’s West Village, reopening it, and moving Park51 to a site on the same property. The move would provide a location away from ground zero and serve as an act of goodwill by reviving the closed hospital.
Bloomberg Appoints Cathie Black as Schools Chancellor, Outrage Ensues
Teachers, parents, and others protested Black’s lack of educational experience. Black hold’s no advanced degrees and has never worked in education. Bloomberg touted her management skills, saying Black’s successful career as chairman of Hearst magazines qualified her to oversee the more than 1,600 schools, 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees, and a $21 billion operating budget for the school system.
A board of educators assembled by NY State Education Commissioner David Steiner failed to endorse the waiver needed to grant the position to Black, citing her lack of educational qualifications. Steiner struck a deal with the mayor to appoint Shael Polakow-Suransky as Black’s chief academic officer. Mr. Polakow-Suransky is currently the chief accountability officer of the NYC Department of Education.
Black and Polakow-Suransky are scheduled to take the helm of the school system on Jan. 1, however the black eye that mayor Bloomberg received in the ordeal has not yet healed, as several lawsuits have been filed against the appointment.
2010, the Year of the Bedbugs
The year 2010 will be known as the year of the bedbugs. The infestation plaguing New York continued to spread—to apartments, schools, retail stores, medical facilities, and hotels. Even the world-renowned Waldorf=Astoria Hotel was invaded by the blood sucking bugs.
The bedbug infestation is nationwide, but the New York Metro area has the worst infestation, according to The Bedbug Registry, a free, public database of bedbug sightings in the United States and Canada.
The city, in order to combat the little red pests, established an advisory board for bedbugs in 2009, and in 2010 city council allocated $500,000 to create a new bedbug Web portal and a dedicated staff to help New York residents and businesses mitigate bedbug infestations.
According to an April report by the bedbugs advisory board, private residential rental housing violations in New York City showed a greater than 240 percent rise in bedbug violations from 2006 to 2009, from 1,193 to 4,084 violations. In 2010 more complaints poured in.
Bedbugs are not known to transmit diseases, but the itchy bites can be a nuisance and a psychological burden.
Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel Censured by Congress
The 20-term congressional veteran stepped down from his powerful position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in March.
In mid-November, Rangel walked out of proceeding with the Ethics Committee saying that he could no longer afford a lawyer, claiming the investigation had cost him $2 million in legal fees. The committee deliberated for two days in a closed chamber and found Rangel guilty of 11 counts of breaking ethics rules.
Rangel was the 31st member of Congress to be censured, which basically amounts to a public shaming by the speaker of the House in front of one’s peers.
Rangel issued an apology on Nov. 18, but has maintained throughout that his violations were “sloppy, even stupid, but never corrupt.”
“There is no excuse for my acts of omission and failures to abide by the rules of Congress. I have made many mistakes that I will forever regret, and I apologize for them,” stated Rangel.
Bloomberg Closes ‘Rubber Rooms’ Teachers Still Idle
Facing around a $4 billion budget deficit, Mayor Michael Bloomberg got tough with the New York City’s teacher’s union, The United Federation of Teachers (UFT). The most notable concession he obtained from the union was the closing of the notorious “rubber rooms” in April.
Rubber rooms were detention-hall-like areas where teachers who were accused of wrongdoing or incompetence reported to every school day. As arbitrators slowly decided their fate, teachers collected a full paycheck while sitting idly day after day, some for more than five years.
Yet, the story didn’t end there. Just this month reports have indicated that while the rubber rooms have closed, many of the teachers still can’t be fired because of the cumbersome rules still in place. Instead the teachers are simply spread throughout schools without work or with menial jobs.
One such teacher wrote this month in the Huffington Post, “Publicly the DOE claims that people who have been reassigned are doing administrative work, but the reality is that no such work exists. For the past two months I’ve been paid my full salary to sit in what amounts to detention.”
New York on the Move, Transportation Recap
In May the MTA unveiled a tunnel-boring machine, which will complete phase one of four of the construction on the Second Avenue subway. The new subway line will run from 125th Street to the Financial District. Completion of the line has been repeatedly postponed and business owners along Second Avenue say that business has suffered during the construction. The tunnel is slated for completion in November 2011.
The number 7 train is moving ever westward. New tunnels have been dug from the train’s current terminus at Times Square west to 11th Avenue and south to 27th Street, allowing access to the Hudson Yards development and the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
N.J. Gov. Chris Christy halted the nation’s largest infrastructure project in October, a new commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River to Manhattan, saying that New Jersey could not foot the bill for projected cost overruns estimated at $2.5 billion. This has spurred discussion to continue the 7-subway line all the way to Secaucus, N.J.
As part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC, the DOT held a public hearing to discuss the goal of a 1,800-mile bicycle network by 2030. DOT plans to add 50 miles of new bicycle lanes each year. In November, DOT also called for a private company to bring in a bike-share initiative similar to cities like Paris and Barcelona. The project is expected to be in place in the spring of 2012.
Tolls on MTA’s seven bridges and two tunnels will go up at 2 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 30, as will the cost of Metrocards for the third year in a row. The 30-day unlimited card will cost $104 (previously $89), and an unlimited 7-day pass will cost $29 (previously $27). Single rides will now cost $2.50, up from $2.25.
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