City Limits was named last week one of New York’s most trusted sources for news about the recession’s impact on the city.

The distinction came from NewsTrust, a non-profit news service that helps people find good journalism online and allows users to rate stories based on journalistic quality. NewsTrust posted 186 news and opinion stories about New York City, 61 of which received a rating.

Two of our stories tied for third place with stories by Mother Jones, Frontline and In These Times.
“Getting From Here to There” by Emily Keller was one of the City Limits stories rated most trustworthy. It details upcoming Metropolitan Transit Authority service cuts slated to take effect by the end of June.

Eliminated services include 33 bus lines and two subway lines. Reduced service will occur on 64 buses and Access-A-Ride—a door-to-door service for people with disabilities—will be transformed into a shuttle to nearby buses and trains for some customers.

The other highly rated City Limits story was “Feeling the Recession’s Impact” by Neil deMause, Jake Mooney and Helen Zelon. It details the mayor’s and governor’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget cuts.

The state of New York in March had a $9 billion-and-growing projected budget deficit. Governor Patterson in January proposed cutting $300 million in general aid to New York City, plus hundreds of millions more in budget items that would be shifted from the state to the city, including special education and homeless shelter funding.

In response, Mayor Bloomberg– who had already announced his own round of “Program to Eliminate the Gap”, or PEG, cuts amounting to $1.6 billion over the next two years—commissioned a second series of “contingency” cuts that he said would be necessary if the governor’s budget were to become reality.