Gridlock and the mayoral control countdown
 |
The New York State Senate may be scheduled to reconvene at 3 pm today, but if recent experience is any guide, there’s no certainty that actual work will get done on behalf of the State’s citizens. Most pressing for many New York City residents, of course, is the law that maintains mayoral control of the schools, set to expire at midnight tomorrow, June 30.
Covered extensively in the Times, Post, News and at Gotham Schools, Gotham Gazette, and other local media, the mayoral control fight has taken on the tinge of French farce: How long can the public bickering and back-room wheeling-dealing continue? How many leaders and activists can line up for, and against, the mayor’s control of the schools? Can New York City go “Soviet,” to quote the Mayor, if the law’s not renewed? And — we hesitate to ask aloud — what about the kids?
Pro- and anti-control factions rallied and vented yesterday in Harlem. Will all the politics and posturing make a difference? Will Albany legislators wake up today and decide their duties outweigh their power struggles? Will New York’s statehouse denizens cease to be a laughing-stock and step up to their responsibilities?
With less than two days to go, the answers are anyone’s guess. The conflict is red meat for the local press, local pols, and pundits and activists on all sides. We still want to know, what about the city’s kids?
Subscribe to 
