Steven Long
The Archive
Facing NYC’s fiscal nightmare
Listening to some mayoral candidates, you’d think that New York City’s biggest challenge was how to spend billions of dollars in spare revenue. But no matter how big the spending...
Anthony & Malcolm
Sunday’s New York Times magazine features an interview with disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, which Weiner granted in a bid to gauge if the public is ready to accept him...
Cuomo’s Jersey-style pension ploy
Gov. Cuomo and the state Legislature have agreed to let hard-pressed municipalities lower their annual pension contributions. But state officials and independent analysts note that many of the worst public-pension...
Jersey’s hangover
Earlier this year, Gov. Chris Christie declared that New Jersey’s comeback had begun. Since then, the state’s unemployment rate has risen and tax collections have slowed. Last week, Standard &...
Gambling: fool’s gold for politicians
Gov. Cuomo’s bold plan for a $4 billion casino and conference center in Queens has fallen apart, but the prospect of a gusher of “gaming” revenues still beckons state government,...
A killer ‘stimulus’
In his budget address on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie proposed cutting income taxes to make the state more competitive in the race for jobs and investment. But even...
Other people’s money
The meltdown of MF Global is a striking lesson in the degree to which our finance firms and our elected officials often do business in the same way — regardless...
Meanwhile, back in the Garden State
Having finally laid to rest speculation about a presidential run, Chris Christie can return to reforming his state. As the governor said yesterday, there’s plenty of work left to do...
Brooklyn’s NHL curse
After Nassau County voters nixed a referendum to finance a new home for the New York Islanders, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wasted little time in declaring that the team...
NJ's supreme injustice
New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled last week that the cash-strapped state must send another $500 million in aid to urban school districts -- the latest in a long series of...
Rent's too darn low
In New York state, contrary to gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan, the rent is not too damn high. It's actually too damn low in most places -- and that fact reflects...
Feds' food fog
As government agencies in places like New York seek a greater hand in shaping diets, the next set of federal nutrition guidelines, to be published this year, could prove controversial...
NJ's poison pensions
Even if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wins his fierce battle to tame the state's out-of-control budget, the state will then still have to face its pension costs, which are...
Yes, there's bloat in NJ's schools
Gov. Chris Christie is trying to solve New Jersey's chronic bud get problems by cutting spending, including state aid to local schools. But the state's powerful teacher unions and many...
NY's real Godzilla
A new ad by hospitals makes an old argument -- that pro posed cuts in state health- care subsidies are a monster, a "Cutzilla" that would devastate New York's health...
ACORN's fruits
ACORN may be fading away, thanks to government restrictions on its funding in the wake of the scandal in which its counselors advised undercover journalists on how to evade the...
Christie's Big Bet on School Reform
New Jersey Gov.-Elect Chris Christie's most audacious move so far has been his choice for state education commissioner -- former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, a man the National Education...
When can't New York take your land
A New York appellate court last week harshly rejected the state's effort to take property from businesses in upper Manhattan and give it to Columbia University for its campus expansion,...
Behind NY's small-business drop
DOING business in Gotham has rarely been easy for the nearly 200,000 small firms that form the local economy's backbone. But in the last few years, small businesses' woes have...
Bam aide hails Iran 'progress'
WASHINGTON -- The White House said yesterday it sees signs of progress in confronting Iran's nuclear program, while members of Congress endorsed tougher US economic penalties against the Tehran government....