Results tagged “policy”

Today the Mayor and New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley announced a three-year health policy called Take Care New York 2012, targeting 10 leading causes of preventable sickness and death, including lung cancer, heart disease and HIV. And in a preliminary interview with the Times, Farley emphasized that sedentary New Yorkers in the boroughs need to start pulling their weight, because they're currently fatter and less active than their sleek Manhattan neighbors: "In Manhattan, most people are going to be walking. Throughout the other boroughs, they are going to be driving." Farley lives in Brooklyn and exercises regularly, and since replacing Dr. Thomas Frieden as commissioner, he's been busy warning New Yorkers about the fatty evils of soda, while also trying to make the city more exercise-friendly. He says his agenda "includes what organizations can do, what we can do as a society" and is "less focused on the health care system." So the plan announced today identifies 10 steps New Yorkers should take, like "Have a Healthy Baby," "Know Your HIV Status," and "Live Free of Dependence on Alcohol and Drugs." ("Drink Diet Soda" isn't one of them.)

The number of families sleeping in shelters is near an all-time high; according to the Department of Homeless Services, there were 34,774 people in shelters last week, including 9,361 families. The Bloomberg administration is now seeking state approval for a new set of policies intended to move families out of shelters more quickly and, according to the Times, apply the "market-driven, incentive-based philosophy to homeless shelters that it has used in schools." Under the new rules, the city would pay shelters more than the usual rate, which is roughly $100 a day, for the first six months that it houses a family. But after six months, if the family has not found permanent housing, the shelter would be paid 20 percent less than the standard rate. Homeless advocates deem the new policies "mean-spirited" and worry that families would be forced out after six months. But Linda Gibbs, deputy mayor for health and human services, insists families would only be ejected for "refusing to look for housing, refusing to seek employment, anything that is an unreasonable refusal to participate in the steps they need to take to overcome their homelessness." In April, homeless advocates blamed Bloomberg for the rise in homeless families.

Kids returning to school Tuesday were handed pamphlets outlining Mayor Bloomberg's new "Respect for All" policy, intended to reduce bullying, particularly harassment in public schools based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Every principal is now required to designate a staff member to whom students can report incidents, with schools required to report complaints to the Department of Education within 24 hours. According to WNBC, an accounting of all the incidents will be put online at the end of each school year, thereby sharing the humiliation with the world wide web.

Despite the economic tailspin, developers are still moving forward with luxury residential buildings that – assuming anyone can still afford to occupy them – will result in 170,000 new cars on city streets by 2030, thanks to city regulations requiring new developments to contain a minimum number of built-in parking spots. That estimate comes from public transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, who held a press conference at City Hall yesterday urging the city to change the policy, which they say will produce 431,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.