Editorials
Don’t ‘short’ patients
In 2021, nurses and patients secured a hard-won victory with the passage of the state Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. The law, among other provisions, set up safe and reasonable staffing ratios. But New York City hospitals routinely flout the law, and the state Department of Health has failed to enforce it.
Pension choice
The roughly 5,500 UFT members who belong to the smaller New York City Board of Education Retirement System want the opportunity to switch to the TRS — and there is a bill in Albany that would give them that choice.
Past-due payments
One of an employer’s most basic obligations is to pay its employees in a timely fashion. Yet over and over again, the city Department of Education falls short in this regard.
Start strong
New York City led the nation when Mayor Bill de Blasio established free, full-day pre-kindergarten a decade ago and expanded it several years later to add 3-K. Sadly, Mayor Eric Adams is letting these vital programs wither.
Voting site concerns
Early voting has been a welcome development in New York City since it was first implemented in 2019. But for the educators and students at the 33 public schools in Staten Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan that serve as early voting sites, early voting has posed a range of concerns.
Halt ‘congestion’ plan
In their zeal to implement a project that promises to generate about $1 billion a year in revenue, agency officials failed to consider how congestion pricing simply shifts who pays the environmental costs.