Latino
Squatters' Rites
Robert Neuwirt |
The activists, laborers and hippies who’ve made abandoned buildings into viable homes were the scourge of City Hall. Now Loisaida’s last outlaws have become government-sponsored homeowners.
Latino
Williamsburg’s Last Picture Show
Elizabeth Olsson |
Community activists do battle for use of Billyburg’s art deco Commodore theater.
Housing and Homelessness
Neverending Stories
Matt Pacenza |
Another chapter in the history of racial discrimination in Wiliamsburg’s public housing developments opens as the city agrees to offer black and Hispanic applicants a better shot at apartments.
Latino
The First
Daniel Hendrick |
The Queens Democratic Party finally recognized its borough’s growing diversity, endorsing a South Asian candidate for public office for the first time.
Christine Quinn
Down to Business
Annia Ciezadlo |
The new Council is busy with a bevy of activist legislation–but how long will it last?
Staten Island
Focus on Fixing the Schools: Social Promotion
Nora McCarthy |
Take dismal public schools. Add prosperous parents. Shake up. Is a new recipe for revitalizing the city’s education system being written in Riverdale, Park Slope and the Upper East Side?
Bronx
Focus on Fixing the Schools: Pass Discrimination
Esther Kaplan |
The nation’s school testing frenzy is failing qualified minority teachers, with little proof that high scores on certification exams have anything to do with good teaching.
Child Welfare
Active Parenting
Wendy Davis |
Her boyfriend beat her so badly she had to be hospitalized. Then the city took her kids because of it. Meet the mom who’s turning a legal fight into a source of inspiration for other two-time victims.
ARTS and CULTURE
IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS … I’D BUY THE COMMODORE
Elizabeth Olsson |
The Commodore, the last of the string of vaudeville theaters that once lined Brooklyn’s Broadway, is for sale. Local residents are asking the city to landmark the building before it, too, becomes history.
Latino
Truth, Justice and the American Way: Victor Toro
Vee Bravo |
Proprietor, South Bronx political and cultural center
