Condemned to Repeat It

DCAS Swallowing DORIS

Would Slight City History

Councilmember Gale Brewer, who chairs the Council's Committee on Government Operations, held a public hearing this afternoon on an Administration proposal to fold the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) into the much larger Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS).

DORIS was created in 1977 by a local law championed by former Council President Paul O'Dwyer, adopted by the Council and signed by Mayor Beame in his last year in office. The agency's first commissioner, who served through the administration of Mayor Koch, was Eugene J. Bockman, who had been the Municipal Reference Librarian.

The records agency was always small, and has shrunk by half in the last decade. DCAS is a conglomerate of service functions, with many relatively unrelated municipal housekeeping duties. The records function would be about one percent of its activities.

The Adminstration witnesses supported the merger, the bill having been introduced at the request of the mayor. The independent witnesses generally opposed the bill, although some would accept it if there were written safeguards against cannibalization of the smaller agency. The problem is that, no matter what the words in the bill may say, the surviving agency in these circumstances is likely to do as it pleases. It can always plead financial exigencies, complaining of externally imposed budget reductions. These are real, but can usefully serve as an excuse for noncompliance with statutory requirements. Rule 18-X-6: "The Devil [OMB] made me do it."

As a co-sponsor of the Local Law 49 of 1977, adopted while I was a City Councilman-at-Large (Liberal-Manhattan) and as a member of the Archives advisory board created pursuant to that law, I have taken a long-term interest in the municipal history and the city library and reference services. This area has been degraded by persistent underfunding, making it almost impossible to perform its statutory duties. There is no obligation in the 2011 proposal to increase personnel or funding in the event of a merger. Although there could be minor efficiencies through cross-performance of duties, they are dwarfed by the impending tasks of digitilization of records.

My testimony was that the merger came out of a green eyeshade (stereotype for myopic city employee or consultant) looking for an agency to eliminate to save nickels and give the impression that government was being streamlined. In this case, the agency to be abolished is very small and no specific cost savings are anticipated. Among the public witnesses today were Christine Ward, the New York State archivist, Prof. Richard Lieberman, head of the LaGuardia and Wagner archives at the City University, and Brian Andersson, former commissioner (2002-10) of DORIS. The administration was capably represented by DCAS commissioner Edna Wells Handy and Eileen Flannelly, who is deputy commissioner of DORIS. Ms. Flannelly is a grand-niece of Paul O'Dwyer, younger brother of William O'Dwyer, 100th mayor of the City of New York (1946-50). She has a background interest in municipal history. The DCAS commissioner for the first eight years of the Bloomberg era was Martha K. Hirst.

Ironically, when we called DORIS this afternoon for historic information on the advisory boards, we were referred to Mark Daly, who is a public relations officer for DCAS. We had spoken with Mr. Daly a few weeks ago in connection with the non-publication of the Green Book, a city directory published annually since 1918, but not issued for the last several years. Sadly, Mr. Daly was unable to assist us with all of our questions, although DORIS staff is instructed to direct press inquiries to him, as the press officer for the anticipated agency. This is what happens when a big fish swallows a smaller one. It is a law of nature.

What really happened here was that DORIS was regarded as "low hanging fruit", an agency that could be made to disappear without public concern, and with an existing agency assuming its functions. It is true that savings were minimal, but it would appear in the media as if government were being streamlined, which is legitimately desired by the public. Twice at the hearing an Administration spokeswoman referred to "firemen and teachers being fired" as a reason funds were difficult to find for records preservation.

The chair of the Council committee, Ms. Brewer, was patient throughout the hearing. Over the years, she has shown considerable interest in records preservation, the municipal library, making information available to the public, and transparency in city government. She chaired a task force on technology.

The fate of this bill will reflect the views of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and the extent to which Ms. Brewer will be able to influence the Speaker. This is not an issue of the political left versus the right, or the poor versus the rich, or one borough or interest group against another. It is simply a question of open government, citizen access to data and public records, and who has responsibility for preserving the historic heritage of city government.

That task does require money, and for years funding has been woefully inadequate for the purpose. Whether abolishing the agency in charge while imposing no standards or requirements for anyone else to do the work, remains to be seen. We believe it will never be seen because it is impossible. The genesis of and rationale for this bill is that someone saw a box on an organization chart he thought he could eliminate without anyone caring.

The Council's disposition of this bill will show if anyone, in fact, does care about the city's history. No one can support it who is not taking the king's shilling, not that there is anything wrong with that, should it be proffered. But no one should be foolish enough to believe promises that have never been kept.

The Council should specify and expand the duties of DORIS, rather than consign it to limbo as a minor subsidiary of the agency that buys shoe polish, toilet paper and other necessities. It should stand up for history, if it wishes to be remembered by anyone.

A Missing Link

Wherefore Art Thou, O Green Book?

We've Waited Three Years For Thee.

New York City's Green Book, which has been missing in action for three years, will reappear in July, according to the commissioner in charge of preparing, editing and printing it.

The Green Book is an invaluable compendium of federal, state, and city agencies and executives, including addresses, phone numbers, and an outline of responsibilities. It has been published by the city, and sold to the public, for the last twelve mayoral administrations. It is an annual directory, just like the telephone book, the World Almanac and other works of reference with periodically changing data.

"The need of a comprehensive directory of city departments has long been recognized, but has remained for the present administration to issue the first edition," said Supervisor of the City Record Peter J. Brady in 1918. Note how Brady credits his boss, Mayor John P. Hylan, who had defeated reform Mayor John Purroy Mitchel in 1917.

Mitchel, who had been known as "The Boy Mayor of New York", died at the age of 38 in July 1918, less than seven months out of office, when he fell out of a single-seater scout plane he was piloting over Lake Charles, Louisiana. He held the rank of major in the Air Service, which preceded the Army Air Corps, which preceded the United States Air Force. As the Times reported, his seat belt was unfastened at the time of the accident.

A handsome monument to Mayor Mitchel is located at 90th Street and Fifth Avenue, near the entrance to Central Park. The area is used by the New York Road Runners Club, and a statue of Fred Lebow is nearby.

From 1918 on, the Green Book was published regularly until the current administration took office. In the nine years of the Bloomberg era, the book appeared annually for four years, culminating in a volume with a saffron cover, which was an hommage to the artists Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, whose work, The Gates, was exhibited in Central Park for two weeks in February 2005

The city then missed two editions in a row for the first time in the book's history. Since the 2008-09 edition, a tribute to PlaNYC, another mayoral initiative, the presses have been silent for another two years.

Commissioner Edna Wells Handy, a career public servant, is the new commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, succeeding Martha K. Hirst, who served over eight years. Ms. Handy told us today that the next print edition of the Green Book will appear in July 2011, which is just three months off. An on-line edition may appear earlier, which would be of enormous value to the public, particularly people who have to deal with city agencies.

The 311 telephone line, launched by Mayor Bloomberg in 2003, was created to handle inquiries from people who did not know what agency could help them. It has fulfilled that function, but often is compelled to refer callers to the agency with jurisdiction, where assistance might or might not be available. At the same time, many agency information numbers were eliminated, so even people who knew who to call were shunted into 311.

The New York Times described the plight of the Green Book three weeks ago in an article by David W. Chen, AN UPDATE OF NEW YORK'S OUTDATED DIRECTORY? THE WAITING CONTINUES. You can click here to read Chen's witty and engaging piece. Subscribers to the Times have unlimited access to its website; visitors get twenty views per month.

Mr. Chen wrote: "So why, then, no new Green Book? The answer, according to the Bloomberg administration, has nothing to do with the current economic malaise. Nor does it have anything to do with any plans to put the Green Book online. And there is certainly no evidence that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg either wants to delay publication or has made this a lower-than-low priority.

"Instead, the official explanation is that there have been too many things to update, first after the 2009 citywide elections, then after the 2010 elections."

Elections have been held each November since before the Green Book was born in 1918. The high rate of re-election by incumbents in gerrymandered districts makes changes based on election returns relatively modest.

Mayor Bloomberg's deserved reputation as a skilled manager makes it unlikely but not impossible that such an historic change from the policy of annual publication would escape the notice of someone at City Hall.

Then again, it is possible that Mayor Mitchel was unaware of the fact that seatbelts in an airplane must remain fastened, particularly if the pilot is the sole passenger.

The law of gravity is less forgiving than the laws of politics.