Historic Tenure: NYC Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn

For anyone considering sticking their hand in the colossal cookie jar that is New York City’s government, Rose Gill Hearn has a message for you: “we are watching.” With her usual stern glance, Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn tells me she demands a “standard of excellence.” In her 12 years at DOI, Gill Hearn has met that standard, amassing arrests and recovering taxpayer dollars in record numbers. When she assumed her office, the … <Read More>


Medicaid: 5 Million New Yorkers, $53 Billion and Growing

Fiscal year 2010 Medicaid spending by the fifty states, excluding administrative costs, exceeded $389 billion dollars.  New York State led the states in total spending at $52 billion dollars. Medicaid costs are now the largest driver of state and local spending in New York State. Recent changes in State law have helped reduce the local costs, but Medicaid continues to dominate State and local expenses.

Congress in 1965 established Medicaid under Title XIX of the <Read More>


Michael Best, Counselor to Mayor Bloomberg: Weathering Hurricane Sandy at City Hall

Michael Best, Counselor to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, was appointed in May 2012, replacing Anthony Crowell, now Dean of New York Law School. Best serves as General Counsel in the mayor’s office and is one of the mayor’s senior management and policy advisors, helping to coordinate and oversee City agencies, boards, and committees. Best has served in City government since 1991, having worked as General Counsel to the City’s Criminal Justice Coordinator, Director of the … <Read More>


City Comptroller faults NYCHA over CM/Build oversight

Audit found that NYCHA could save $1.5 million in its capital projects program annually. On March 15, 2012, City Comptroller John C. Liu issued an audit report on the New York City Housing Authority’s oversight of its Construction Management Build Program. Under the program, known as CM/Build, NYCHA awards contracts to construction management firms to provide pre-construction and construction management services for particular capital projects. NYCHA implemented the program in 2003 to improve … <Read More>


Amended version of living wage law debated at Council

New proposal would limit applicability and duration of living wage mandate associated with development projects receiving City economic incentives. On November 22, 2011, the City Council’s Contracts Committee held a hearing on Intro 251- A, an amended version of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. The legislation would require certain employers connected to development projects receiving City financial assistance to pay employees a “living wage” linked to the consumer price index. The living … <Read More>


Council Member Brad Lander on Current Initiatives Affecting Land Use in the City

Council Member Brad Lander, chair of the City Council’s Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, draws from his experience as a public policy advocate when executing his duties.

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Lander in 1991 earned a liberal arts degree from the University of Chicago. He then earned a master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University College London in the United Kingdom, where he worked with community groups to research how a … <Read More>