Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Can you bring a camera into the Beacon Theatre in New york?
More published news about NYC in this story - Immigration's New Year
NYCnyt_text readability="42">
The quest for overhauling immigration received two very welcome lifts on New Year’s Day.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, at his inauguration, pledged to help the Obama administration pass immigration reform. Mr. Bloomberg is a force to reckon with, as he proved with his national campaign against illegal guns. On the same day, four young people in Miami, current or former students at Miami Dade College, began their own determined march to Washington in an effort to bring pressure from the grass roots.
Three of the four were brought to this country illegally as children. Like thousands of other young people, they bear no blame for their status, and they are frustrated that their hard work and bright promise lead to a brick wall. Their protest for a chance to become Americans is courageous because it exposes them to possible arrest and deportation. “We are risking our future because our present is unbearable,” one of them, Felipe Matos, told The Times.
The Obama administration has vowed to press ahead with reform this year. Given the hard economic times, the politics may be bleaker even than in 2007 when reform was scuttled in an ugly battle. The need is just as real — for the undocumented and for the country.
America needs to shut the path to illegal entry and employment while opening smoother and more rational routes to legal immigration. Opponents of reform say the downturn is a terrible time to fix the system, but they are wrong. When the recovery comes, the country will need a functioning system more than ever — one that encourages legal entry and bolsters all workers’ rights.
To do this, the country needs to bring its huge undocumented underclass into the light. This means putting 12 million people on a path to being assimilated. It is not a question of adding new people to the work force; they are here, many helping keep the economy afloat while tolerating low pay and abuse from lawbreaking employers who prefer them to American workers.
Representative Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat of Illinois, already has offered a sensible bill that legalizes immigrants who show that they have been employed, pay a $500 fine, learn English and undergo a criminal background check, among other things.
Opponents will try their best to scuttle reform by claiming to be open to compromise while they insist on prohibitive fees, penalties and requirements that turn the path into a fiction — not a wait of months but of decades or never. That is not reform. And it won’t solve the problem.
After years of tightening the screws, the system is hopelessly frozen. Those who want to fix it will have to shut out the choruses of no-amnestys and over-my-dead-bodys, sidestep the false arguments and press into the headwinds while holding firm to the core of the better solution. To legalize the undocumented, collect their unpaid taxes, free them to earn more and spend more, to get the immigrant escalator to the middle class moving again. The country needs it; the economy needs it; the immigrants need and deserve it.
“No city on earth has been more rewarded by immigrant labor, more renewed by immigrant ideas, more revitalized by immigrant culture,” Mr. Bloomberg said of New York City last week. Substitute “country” in that sentence, as in America, and it is every bit as true.
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Do you have to apply to Parsons Paris seperately from Parsons New york?
NYC in the news: New York Regains Spot at Nation's Top Tourism Destination
NYCThe number of visitors to New York City fell last year for the first time since 2001 when terrorists struck. But tourism declines elsewhere across the U.S. made it the most popular destination in the country for the first time in almost two decades, tourism officials said Monday.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg painted the 3.9 percent decline — an estimated 45.3 million visitors — as a victory, saying that amid the recession the city had anticipated losing as much as 10 percent of tourists. The city expects to recoup most of the loss this year and remains on track to hit its longstanding goal of 50 million yearly visitors by 2012, the mayor said.
Other hot spots were hit harder, making New York America's No. 1 destination for the first time since 1990, the mayor said. For nearly two decades that title was held by either Las Vegas or Orlando.
"We have made our city cleaner, safer and more exciting than ever," Bloomberg said at a press conference at a Brooklyn restaurant. "I do think we'll continue to see even more tourists on our streets as the economy improves, and I think that we'll continue to fare better than other cities."
While many travelers stayed home simply because money was tight, the mayor also attributed the decline in international visitors to swine flu fears and concerns over border security measures.
Foreign visitors — traditionally the biggest spenders — fell to 8.6 million in 2009, a drop of almost 10 percent from the year before. That echoed a milder national trend, with international visitors to the U.S. down 7 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period the year before.
Still, some attractions, including the Statue of Liberty, reported jumps in visitation. And the city's leisure and hospitality industry — which provides one-tenth of the city's private sector jobs — actually grew in 2009.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
NYC Distributes 70000 'How-to' Heroin Handouts (I wish I didn't have to read news like this)
NYCNew York City residents struggle to pay some of the highest tax-rates in the nation. Unfortunately, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg does not always utilize common sense in regards to fiscal matters of the municipal budget.
According to the New York Post, "the city spent $32,000 on 70,000 fliers that tell you how to shoot heroin, complete with detailed tips on prepping the dope and injecting it into your arm."
New York's top drug prosecutors and abuse experts are expresing outrage at the city's Health Department handout.
John Gilbride, who heads the Drug enforcement Administration's New York office, said, "it's basically step-by-step instructions on how to inject a poison."
City Council member Peter Vallone Jr. (D.-Queens), responded, "it's sick." Dr. Herbert, Columbia University drug researcher and treatment expert, simply stated: "Foolish."
As reported by the NY Post, "the 16-page pamphlet features seven comics-like illustrations and offers dope fiends such useful advice as 'warm you body (jump up and down) to show your veins,' and 'find the vein before you try to inject.'"
The guidebook even encourages addicts to continue jabbing if their needles don't hit the mark. It says, "if you don't 'register,' pull out and try again."
Experts contend that the brochure sends the wrong message about the dangers of the drug.
Gilbride said, "it concerns me that the city would produce a how-to on using drugs. Heroin is extremely potent. You may only get the chance to use it once. To suggest there is a method of using that alleviates the dangers, that's very disturbing."
Mr. Vallone, who chairs the public safety committee, pledged to depose of the distribution of the pamphlet.
He fumed, "this is a tremendous misuse of city funds, and I'm going to see what I can do to stop. It sends a message to our youth: give it a try."
To read the entire article from the New York Post, link here:
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Mondays crazyness New York City Reigns as Number One Tourist Destination
NYCBy Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — It looks like New York City just showed Mickey Mouse who's boss.
The city that never sleeps overtook Orlando, the house of mouse, as the most popular city destination in the United States for 2009.
A total of 45 million visitors boosted the local economy in 2009, bringing in close to $28 billion to the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday.
"Last year, while tourism declined significantly in cities across the country, we fared better than most," Bloomberg said in a statement.
Travel to the city dropped by just 3.9 percent from 2008, a smaller percentage than expected.
New York City also knocked out Los Angeles as the most popular city favored by international visitors. The Big Apple attracted 8.6 million visitors from abroad, more than double the amount that visited Los Angeles.
While New Yorkers may complain about the tourists, visitors from abroad spent five times as much money in the city as their American counterparts.
Apart from the cash boon to the city in the middle of the recession, the visitor influx has brought employment numbers in the hospitality industry to pre-recession levels, Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert C. Lieber credited an aggressive tourism marketing campaign for the visitor numbers.
Plans to stretch the welcome mat into 2010 include weekend promotions, hotel specials and a new round of restaurant week highlighting the city's cuisine.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Awful NYC headline - NYC tourism down in 2009 but growth seen in 2010
NYCNEW YORK (Reuters) - Tourist visits to New York City fell 3.9 percent in 2009 but the city's tourism suffered less from the recession than other U.S. cities', becoming the most popular destination and forecasting a 3.2 percent rise for 2010.
U.S.
The number of visitors fell to 45.25 million, and tourists spent $28 billion in New York, down $2 billion from the previous year, but the decline was less than the projected 10 percent and New York overtook Orlando, Florida, as the leading U.S. destination, officials said on Monday.
New York regained the top spot for the first time in 20 years. Orlando is home to the Disney World amusement park.
Moreover, New York remained the most popular destination for international visitors with 8.6 million in 2009 -- twice as many as the nearest competitor, Los Angeles.
International visitors spend nearly five times as much as their domestic counterparts, and every dollar of direct tourist spending translates into a total of $1.50 in economic activity, the city said.
The year-on-year fall in the number of visitors in 2009 marked the first decline since 2001, when travelers stayed away following the September 11 attacks that year.
New York is projecting 46.7 million visitors to the city in 2010, which would put it on track toward reaching its goal of 50 million visitors by 2012.
Jobs in restaurants and bars grew 1.1 percent over 2008 while hotel employment grew 2.6 percent.
The last three months of 2009 saw a rise in arrivals from trains and airports, leading officials to predict a return to growth.
"During a softening of the market, New York experiences less of a dip than elsewhere" and absorbs travelers that may previously have gone abroad, said Tim Tomkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, a business group.
(Reporting by Basil Katz; editing by Daniel Trotta and Cynthia Osterman)
What is the most amazing thing to see in New York City? The thing that I absolutely MUST NOT MISS?
Should I move to new york for college after i get my associates degree in nursing and get my bachelors there?
Sunday, January 3, 2010
I was completely stunned by: Criticized as Too Sedate, Public Advocate's Office Intends to Get Louder
New York Citynyt_text readability="71">
In a challenge to the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the city’s new public advocate, Bill de Blasio, will unveil a plan on Monday to train aggrieved residents to organize petition drives, demonstrations and civic actions against City Hall.
Moving swiftly to redefine a sedate office at the periphery of New York City government, Mr. de Blasio is creating a department of community organizing, which will seek to turn those who grouse about city policies and practices into advocates who band together to reshape them.
In an interview Sunday night, he said the new department could be especially effective in mobilizing parents of children in the city’s schools, a group he says has been consistently ignored by the Bloomberg administration.
The move represents a significant rethinking of the office, which has traditionally served as a quiet problem solver, responding to scattered complaints about everything from unfilled potholes to unresponsive city officials. But Mr. Bloomberg has largely filled that task with 311, the popular information hot line, and Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor, Betsy Gotbaum, kept a low profile over the past eight years. For much of that time, the office had been criticized as ineffectual, so much so that the City Council slashed its financing and Mr. Bloomberg called the job “a waste of everyone’s money.”
In the interview, Mr. de Blasio vowed to take the office “to a new activist level.”
“This is what government is supposed to do — channel energy and activism and achieve results for our constituents,” he said.
Mr. de Blasio has repeatedly complained that the Bloomberg administration does not promote — or permit — enough citizen debate and engagement.
“This is a city that not long ago seemed ungovernable, so a very top-down style of government has taken shape, epitomized by the current administration,” Mr. de Blasio said. “But you have to engage the grass roots, and my office will be the leading edge of that.”
To promote activism, the office will hold workshops across the city to link residents with grass-roots organizations, offer toolkits for how to advocate for policy changes, create a page on the public advocate’s Web site to connect New Yorkers with similar problems and give out awards to those who “successfully fight on behalf of their neighborhoods,” according to a copy of a news release to be distributed on Monday.
Of course, whether citizens who have complaints want to become more active is an open question. Some may simply want their problems addressed.
But the strategy is intended to broaden the public advocate’s influence when its financing is at an all-time low, with an annual budget of $1.7 million, down from $3.5 million a decade ago.
It also reflects the considerable ambitions of Mr. de Blasio, who is viewed as a possible mayoral contender in four years. The idea is not entirely new: Norman Siegel, a lawyer who also ran for public advocate last year, has called for similar outreach efforts.
In a gesture rich in symbolism, Mr. de Blasio will announce the plan with eight new City Council members, many of them community organizers elected in a wave of anti-incumbency.
Neither Mr. Bloomberg nor the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, was invited to the news conference. Margaret Chin, a newly elected councilwoman from Manhattan, said it was time for elected officials to adopt the tactics of the groups that lobby for change.
Mr. de Blasio said the focus of community organizing would be city agencies “where there is evidence of systemic failures.”
He criticized the Department of Education, citing its announcement, with scant warning, that half of a neighborhood public school would shut down and its space be given to a new charter school. “I am going to fight to make sure there is community involvement,” he said. And if the administration’s plans hurt residents, he said, “I will fight to reverse it.”
Mr. de Blasio also suggested pressuring the mayor to require that publicly subsidized development projects employ nearby residents and contain greater benefits for their neighborhoods.
Mr. de Blasio said that the public advocate would still resolve many complaints quietly, by reaching out to City Hall commissioners. But if those officials fail to respond, he pledged, he will rally residents to put public pressure on the agencies to act.
“The traditional vision was to call a press conference, issue a report, file a lawsuit,” he said. “I don’t think any of those tools, which are typically used in a drive-by manner, have the same impact as organizing communities.”
Indiana Pacers (10-22) at New York Knicks (13-20), 6 pm
New YorkThe New York Knicks will try and build on a thrilling overtime win in their last outing when they welcome the Indiana Pacers to historic Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks kicked off the new year in style on Friday when Nate Robinson, in his first game since Dec. 1, single-handedly carried the Knicks with 41 points, totaling a combined 25 in the fourth quarter and overtime as New York pulled out a 112-108 comeback victory over the Hawks at Philips Arena.
Robinson averaged 22 minutes of playing time in his first 12 contests this season before being benched by head coach Mike D'Antoni. Out of nowhere, the 5-foot-9 guard came off the bench Friday and continually maneuvered his way into the lane en route to an 18-for-24 shooting effort to go with eight assists and six rebounds in the win.
"It taught me a lot. It taught me how to be humble, to be thankful for the blessings that God gives you every day," Robinson said of his benching. "We've got the best job in the world, and you can't take it for granted."
Wilson Chandler chipped in 24 points and 17 rebounds for the Knicks, who trailed by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter before defeating the Hawks for the second time on their home court.
The Pacers, meanwhile, snapped an ugly eight-game losing streak on Saturday by besting Minnesota, 122-111, at Conseco Fieldhouse despite playing without three key contributors.
Roy Hibbert and Luther Head each finished with 21 points in that one as Indiana avoided blowing a large lead to beat the Timberwolves. The Pacers looked to be in good shape after building a 73-45 halftime lead but their cushion was cut to five with just under two minutes to play until the team held on to pick up its first win since Dec. 16.
"We came out with good energy, didn't have to dig ourselves out of a deep hole," Hibbert said. "We were having fun and playing good basketball."
Brandon Rush added 16 points while Mike Dunleavy scored 15 with eight rebounds in the victory.
All-Star forward Danny Granger (plantar fascia) and fellow frontcourt mates Troy Murphy (sprained ankle) and Tyler Hansbrough (ear infection) were all sidelined. Murphy and Hansbrough are questionable for tonight's contest.
Indiana has dropped six straight on the road but has won in seven of its past nine trips to MSG, including a 101-89 triumph in November.
About how long did it take to reach New York from Ireland in the 19th century?
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Newsweek The Big Apple's Big Problem
New York CityWhen Michael Bloomberg stood on the steps of City Hall last week to be sworn in for a third term as New York City's mayor, he spoke in upbeat terms about the challenges ahead. The situation, however, is far more difficult than he portrays it. American financial power has shifted from New York to Washington, while global clout moves toward Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Even if the local economy rebounds, the traditional media industries that employ many of Bloomberg's influential constituents likely will continue to decline. New Yorkers have long had an outsize view of their city; historically, its mayors have touted mottos that encouraged that view, from Rudy Giuliani's "capital of the world" to Mike Bloomberg's "luxury city." But as Bloomberg begins his new term, New York needs to reexamine its core economic strategy.
A good first step would be to recognize that the world owes New York nothing. The city cannot simply rely on inertia and the disbursements of Wall Street megabonuses to save its economy. Instead, it needs to rebuild its middle-class neighborhoods and diversify toward a wide range of industries that can capitalize on the city's unique advantages—including its appeal to immigrants; the port; and its leadership in design, culture, and high-end professional services.
It's also time to get rid of the Sex and the City image and start making New York a city where people can have both sex and children. This will become more important as the millennial generation enters its late 20s and early 30s later this decade. This is when many young migrants to the city, including upwardly mobile immigrants, typically become ex–New Yorkers.
Despite all the "back to the city" hype, New York over the past decade suffered one of the highest rates of out-migration of any region in the country. Young singles may come to New York, but many leave as they get older and have families. An analysis by the city controller's office in 2005 found that people leaving the city were three times more likely to have children than those arriving.
If New York is to thrive, it will need to keep more of these largely middle-class families. To do that, it needs to diversify its economy beyond Wall Street, which in 2007 provided roughly 35 percent of all income earned in the city. Since the recession, the city has lost 40,000 financial-service jobs, but the industry has been quietly downsizing for years: over the past two decades, more than 100,000 financial-services jobs have disappeared from New York. In good years, financial services provided an enormous cash engine, but it can no longer provide enough jobs. According to an analysis by the Praxis Strategy Group, finance now accounts for barely one in eight jobs in New York City. Most job growth has come instead in lower-paying professions like health care and tourism.
To become economically sustainable, New York needs to create policies that help encourage development in areas where its less wealthy citizens live. Most outsiders identify New York almost exclusively with Manhattan, yet roughly three out of four New Yorkers actually live in the outer boroughs: Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, Whitestone, Flatbush, Howard Beach, and Middle Village are really New York's middle-class bastions.