Vision Diverges From Mayor's
Quinn's Polite Alternatives

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Council Speaker Christine Quinn said that the city's rising tide was not lifting all boats and made a series of proposals in her Feb. 15 State of the City address to aid middle and low-income residents.

School, Hospital Concerns

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow HITTING MIKE SOFTLY: In what could have been interpreted as criticism of Mayor Bloomberg's vision of New York, Council Speaker Christine Quinn expressed concern that 'middle-class neighborhoods are quietly but steadily disappearing from the city's landscape. The success of New York City can't be judged solely by the success of Wall Street or Sotheby's.'

Ms. Quinn's speech was filled with accolades to her partners in government, but she managed to cordially, yet pointedly, take aim at the Mayor's education plan.

Ms. Quinn said she had "real concerns" about the latest school reorganization plan and made education proposals of her own to improve the city's floundering middle schools. The Speaker sided with Governor Spitzer's hospital consolidation plans, but proposed increased spending on preventive care by building 10 health clinics in the city's highest-need neighborhoods over the next five years.

"Middle class neighborhoods are quietly but steadily disappearing from the city's landscape," said Ms. Quinn. "The success of New York City can't be judged solely by the success of Wall Street or Sotheby's."

Several labor leaders reacted positively to the speech. "I thought she made a commitment to middle- and working-class people that really needs to be made," said Ed Ott, head of the city's AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.

With Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein sitting in the front row, Ms. Quinn took pains to appreciate his efforts.

"The Mayor and Chancellor Klein have brought renewed energy and focus to our public school system," she said. "Our schools are better for it."

Flaws in School Plan

But while Ms. Quinn said she supported their goals, she said that she had "real concerns about the latest restructuring proposal," pointing to the strict accountability measures without adequate support for Principals, and urging a more inclusive process to craft an equitable funding formula.

She said that parents did not feel adequately informed or involved and proposed establishing "school navigators" throughout the city to help parents choose schools when their children transition between elementary, middle and high school.

"There's a lot of us that have been saying that when the system is 1,500 islands, parents need help navigating it for their kids," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. "It means she's been listening to what parents have been saying."

Ms. Quinn also said that the expected increase in state education funding should be spent on reducing class size and establishing universal full-day pre-kindergarten. The UFT has been urging Albany and the city to make smaller class sizes as much of a priority as universal pre-kindergarten, and Ms. Weingarten said she welcomed Ms. Quinn's support in that effort.

Middle-School Initiative

The Speaker also proposed a Middle School Task Force, chaired by New York University Professor Pedro Noguera and Charlotte Frank of McGraw-Hill, that would be made up of parents, educators and community groups, including the Coalition for Educational Justice.

"Too many of our middle schools are failing," she said. "We're losing too many kids between elementary and high school."

Ms. Weingarten said she supported the idea of the task force. "Children First does not have a plan for the middle schools," she said, referring to Mr. Klein's educational initiative.

Ms. Quinn also threw her support behind the plan to close several hospitals statewide. "Tough as it is to say," she said, "there are simply too many hospital beds in New York City."

The Speaker said spending money on primary care should be the city's top priority, and that the 10 new clinics would be state-of-the-art facilities.

'Better Option Than ERs'

"These centers will save taxpayers' dollars by giving New Yorkers a better option than emergency rooms for basic care," she said.

Many advocates agree that focusing on preventive care can both save money and improve health. But the idea that there are too many hospital beds is not widely shared. "I'll take a look at the proposal if there is underutilization of beds," said Mr. Ott. "I'm not convinced that there is."

Ms. Quinn's housing proposals would give a $300 tax credit to individual renters who make less than $43,000 and families of four making less than $75,000. She would also raise the income level for eligibility for city assistance to purchase a home.

In order to help tenants whose landlords have been negligent, Ms. Quinn proposed a legal change to allow tenants to charge a pattern of harassment in court. And she advocated passage of a law that would allow the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to step in and make repairs at landlords' expense when they refused to do so.

"The vast majority of landlords are law abiding, responsible citizens," Ms. Quinn said. "But if you are one of the bad actors, consider yourself forewarned - things are going to be a lot different."