March 15, 2004

WWW.DOYOUCARENYC.GOV

By James Eugene*

One of the better sites on the web is www.nyc.gov. There is just so much information you can access from this site that it is truly unbelievable. Kudos to the City for such a great site…. Overall!

BUT, this would not be a political column without a little rain. So let's discuss the inanities of the site as well.

Did you know that the Art Commission (yes, the City has such a commission) hands out awards for excellence in design? Interesting. So I checked to see the winners. All of them were City agencies. Now I know how certain City projects are "award-winning": the City just hands them the City's own award. It's great to be judge and jury for your own projects.

Next is a site for the Charter Revision Commission whose work ended four months ago with a resounding defeat for the Mayor. You would think that Mayor Billionaire would not want to remind people of this fiasco and deep six those pages.

A riveting site is the Anti-Graffiti Task Force, whose page has not been updated since November, 2002. Either there is no task force or graffiti is passé.

My personal favorite is the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Other than his name, address, phone number and description of the job, there is no information (the site reads like a poor resume). I guess I can't go looking up to see what stiffs are in his office today or even yesterday.

The City Clerk's Office (which gets a lot of publicity now that the same sex marriage issue is hot) has an ironic focus. Click on that link from www.nyc.gov and it does not link you directly to the office but to the "NYC Marriage Bureau." Now the City Clerk does much more than marriage (as us lobbyists know, it is the registration office for us). But you actually have to click on the Marriage Bureau link to get to the Clerk's office with all its other functions. Not the best ordering of a web page.

And can someone tell me what exactly are "HealthStat", "TFA Bonds" and "TSASC Bonds" - all of which you can link to from www.nyc.gov? For the confused, HealthStat is a medical insurance program for the poor, TFA Bonds stands for Transitional Finance Authority Bonds (the debt New York City floated after 9-11), and TSASC Bonds are related to the Tobacco Settlement Bonds. However, I am clueless as to what "TSASC" actually stands for as the web site never tells me.

The Municipal Reference link sends you to a page that simply says it is outdated. So when will the link be eliminated? The layout for "NYC History" gives me a headache (some of the writing is turned 90 degrees…You can visit the page at http://www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/home.html and see what I mean, but don't blame me if you get a headache).

Finally, the NYC Commission on Women's Issues has a home page, but its links fail to go anywhere related to women's issues.

And you know, I saw no private sector advertising on any of the websites. With the hunt for more revenues, you would think that the Administration would explore this idea. After all, if we can sell Snapple in the schools, why not feminine hygiene products on the Women's Issues page or jock itch medication on the Sports Commission page?

On second thought, let's not.

JUST A REMINDER.

There are 42 standing, sub or select committees for the City Council. Council Member Joel Rivera chairs two committees (State Legislation and a subcommittee on Charter Revision). So when you count the Speaker, there are 42 Democratic leadership positions.

But there are Republicans who cannot Chair a Committee. Two of the three have Republican leadership positions. Oddo is Minority Leader and Gallagher is Minority Whip.

This means only seven members have no chairmanship and no leadership position.

Name them.

First, start with the one Republican not named: Andrew Lanza. Next, think of Council Members on the outs: Allan Jennings and Oliver Koppell.

Now think beyond donkeys and elephants. Letitia James is not a Democrat, but a member of the Working Families Party.

Next, who's new? Annabel Palma and Vincent Gentile.

Finally, I know of no chair position for Erik Dilan.

* James Eugene is the pseudonym of a veteran of NYC government affairs. Inside The Big Apple will appear exclusively on the Empire Page. If you want to send tips or column ideas to James Eugene, email them to jameseugene@empirepage.com.