Neil deMause

A quick fact-check of yesterday’s much-hyped state comptroller’s report declaring Coney Island to be booming:

Yesterday state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a report on economic development in Coney Island and Brighton Beach, and declared the two Brooklyn communities to be “back as dynamic neighborhoods where New Yorkers can come to live, work and play,” with job growth far exceeding that of the city as a whole.

DiNapoli’s press statement was quickly snapped up by numerous city news outlets, with the Post’s headline typical: “Report shows huge gains in jobs, population gains for Coney Island.”

It was an odd moment for anyone who’s actually been to Coney Island lately, since there are few obvious signs of a massive renaissance… [read more]

With just one week to go before the New York Islanders arena referendum, New Yorkers are beginning to take notice that there’s a team called the Islanders, and they’re having some kind of arena referendum:

Today’s Daily News features an editorial on next Monday’s New York Islanders arena vote, which is notable for a couple of reasons: One, it’s a rare acknowledgment by the New York media that there is, indeed, a sport known as hockey; and two, it’s an even rarer admission that there’s another hockey team in the area in addition to the Rangers and that one in New Jersey that wins Stanley Cups every so often, a team that otherwise survives in New York sports lingo only in the archaic expression “Potvin sucks!”… [read more]

If you didn’t get enough on how tough it can be to apply for public benefits in New York City in my recent City Limits magazine story, here’s a new article on a report saying it’s doubly tough if you’re a teenager or young adult:

It’s a story that’s repeated itself several times now under the Bloomberg administration: A leading New York social services agency issues a report harshly criticizing the Bloomberg administration’s welfare policies as inappropriate for many poor New Yorkers, and ineffective at moving people into economic self-sufficiency. City officials respond by insisting that the study is flawed, and that the city’s “Work First” model has been a success at connecting low-income New Yorkers with employment.

The latest study, “Missed Opportunity,” was issued jointly last month by the Community Service Society (owner of City Limits) and the Resilience Advocacy Project to investigate how young applicants for public benefits are handled by the city Human Resources Administration, which manages public benefits. Their answer: poorly… [read more]

And one more from the City Limits extravaganza (which is now optimized for you to read through start to finish online, beginning here). This is a companion piece that didn’t make the print magazine for space reasons, profiling a Hunter College student who’s stuck in low-wage work thanks to her country of birth:

Like many students at Hunter College, C. is in her mid-20s, is working on her degree after several years in the work world and commutes to class from a shared apartment in Queens. But she stands out in one way, though it’s not one she goes out of her way to mention to classmates and teachers.

“I would love to be able to tell people, ‘You know, I’m undocumented,’ ” she says, “because I think it would shock them. My accent is not too strong. I’m young. I’m going to school. They would never characterize me as undocumented. The problem is, I am.”… [read more]

I’m happy to report that contrary to what I said yesterday, my entire article profiling low-income New Yorkers and how they make ends meet is now available online via the City Limits website. You can find links to all six sections here, or if you prefer individual links to each chapter, be my guest:

1. The Poor Have Numbers. Do They Count?
2. Even Entrepreneurs Need Food Stamps
3. From Blue-Collar to the Welfare Line
4. One Woman’s Plan to Beat Poverty
5. Sharon’s Homework: Self-Sufficiency
6. What Would Help Poor New Yorkers? Take Your Pick

You can also still order a print or electronic copy as well, but the new issue isn’t in the ordering system just yet. So if you want to see all the nice charts and photos, just hold tight and I’ll post an alert when your money is good here.

And now it can be revealed: One of the big projects taking up much of my time this spring was a special issue of City Limits magazine on low-income New Yorkers, how they make ends meet, and how government policy helps (or hinders) them in getting by.

Currently available online are the first two sections: My introduction on the anywhere from 1.5 million to 3 million New Yorkers (depending on how you count) who are poor, and the first of several profiles of low-income individuals — students, parents (single and otherwise), homeless shelter residents, low-wage workers — and their daily lives. From the former:

It’s a simple enough question on the face of it: How many people living in New York City are poor? The answer, it turns out, depends on how you count.

For decades, the milepost was the federal poverty line, a measure developed in 1963 by government statistician Mollie Orshansky to try to quantify how many Americans were in need. Noting that a federal survey had estimated the average American family’s food spending as one-third of its income, Orshansky took the cost of a subsistence “food basket,” tripled it and deemed families earning below that amount officially poor… [read more]

And from the latter:

It’s Monday, Jan. 31, and as usual, Tanya Fields is having a hectic morning. The Bronx mother of four has already had to juggle her schedule after her babysitter called in sick, forcing her to be late for an important appointment in downtown Brooklyn. But on this occasion—unlike her daily work running a nonprofit startup or her prior years as an environmental advocate—there’s no calling in sick or asking to reschedule: This appointment is for trying to keep her welfare benefits… [read more]

There are another four chapters after that, but the moment at least, you’ll need to buy a copy ($4.95 for a PDF, or add $2 shipping for a paper copy) to read those.

It’s well worth doing so, though, or else you’ll miss out on meeting people like Sharon Jones, Walter Greene, and Beverly Davis, and hearing what it’s like to live in the world’s most expensive city when your monthly income barely breaks four digits. Also, supporting City Limits, which enables me to write more of these stories. It’s a win-win!

[UPDATE: My entire article is now available online for free! But ordering a copy is still the polite thing to do.]

The June issue of Extra! is out, and with it my article on how coverage of state budget battles back in the spring swept under the rug the question of how much of the budget crises were caused by past tax cuts for the rich:

When protests against attempts to roll back state workers’ benefits swept across the nation in February and March, local and national media coverage largely portrayed it as the inevitable collision of generous worker benefits and tight economic times.

The Columbus Dispatch (2/20/11), for example, reported that “the protests at the Ohio and Wisconsin capitols portend what lies ahead as governors in both parties move to cut worker benefits or jobs to balance their books.” The Dispatch called employee pension and healthcare benefits “a long-term threat to state budgets,” citing economists with both the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the right-wing American Enterprise Institute as saying that worker pensions are “squeezing” state budgets…

This story is subscribers-only for now, so you’ll need to sign up (only $15 for a year’s digital subscription!) if you want to read it. Or wait a couple of months until it shows up for free on FAIR’s website, but where’s the fun in that?

Mets ownership wrapped up a tumultuous week by agreeing to sell off a minority stake in the ballclub for $200 million to hedge funde honcho David Einhorn. Who is this guy, and what does he want with the Amazins?

Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat: This week, Mets owner/accused Bernie Madoff unindicted co-conspirator Fred Wilpon 1) was the subject of a New Yorker profile in which he dissed his three best players, then had to apologize via clubhouse speakerphone, 2) was the subject of a Sports Illustrated profile in which he suggested the team payroll would plummet from $142 million to less than $100 million next year, then had to watch as GM Sandy Alderson publicly contradicted him, and 3) cut a deal to sell a minority share in the team to hedge-fund superstar David Einhorn for $200 million, staving off financial ruin with an 11th-hour influx of cool, sweet greenbacks. Which one do you think he’s going to be posting about on Facebook?… [read more]

In the wake of Mets owner Fred Wilpon’s player-dissing New Yorker interview, I explore whether holding a fire sale makes baseball — or economic — sense (subscription required):

Was it really only six months ago that Mets fans were hailing the arrival of Sandy Alderson as putting an end to one of the grimmest eras in a team history full of grimmage? Finally, the Omar Minaya epoch was at an end, and with it the days of throwing money at Oliver Perezes and Luis Castillos; from now on, the Mets could spend their cash reserves wisely, and leverage their big media market and their core of young(ish) talent to bring October baseball back to Flushing… [read more]

If you’ve been wondering where my non-baseball writing has gone to recently, I have a bunch of stuff in the pipeline that’s going to start showing up in print (and in pixels) in coming weeks. And the first of these is now out, a profile of Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner for the Jewish Daily Forward, on the occasion of his firm’s reported ties to a state senator accused of bribe-taking:

When federal prosecutors charged New York State Senator Carl Kruger with taking more than $1 million in bribes in March, few were surprised to see seven others indicted with him. The colorful Kruger, who represents the heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brighton Beach, Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay, has long attracted media attention for high-profile deal-making among a wide network of politicians and lobbyists… [read more]