Latest Employment Figures Make A Strong Case For New York City Receiving Special Aid From Albany And Washington
By Jonathan Bowles

"The Center for an Urban Future today argued that the latest federal
employment figures make a strong case for New York City deserving
special financial support from Albany and Washington. The Center, a
non-partisan Manhattan-based policy research institute, pointed out
that while many local governments across the state and throughout
the country are also struggling with budget problems, the city's
economic and fiscal problems are of a much greater magnitude—-
largely because of the September 11 terrorist attacks. So far,
according to the Center, proposed state and federal budgets have not
taken this into account.
The Center said the latest employment figures released by the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (for the period ending in December 2002)
show that New York City has taken a much greater economic hit than
every other part of the state and almost every other part of the
country. For example:


New York City accounted for 43,400 of the 44,800 jobs lost in the
state between December 2001 and December 2002—96.8 percent of the
total employment decline.

New York City accounted for 175,700 of the 197,100 jobs lost in the
state over the past two years (from December 2000 to December 2002)—-
accounting for 89.2 percent of the state's total employment decline
over the past two years.

The percentage declines far exceed the city's share of total state
employment. In fact, only 42 percent of all jobs in the state are
located in the five boroughs.

The city accounted for an incredible 17.6 percent of the 246,000
jobs lost nationwide over the past year (December 2001 to December
2002). The city only makes up 2.8 percent of all jobs in the U.S.

The city accounted for 10.6 percent of the 1,652,000 jobs lost in
the U.S. over the past two years.

The city also accounted for 96.2 percent of all jobs lost in the New
York metropolitan region over the past year and 98.5 percent of all
jobs lost in the region over the past two years.
"State and federal officials need to come to grips with reality and
finally acknowledge that New York City's current economic and fiscal
woes far exceed what other localities are facing," said Jonathan
Bowles, research director of the Center for an Urban Future. "So
far, the budget proposals unveiled by the governor and the president
treat the city as if 9/11 had no impact on the city's economy or
fiscal situation. The truth is, the city is in a dire situation and
deserves help now."

The RPI Club of NYC has a monthly Happy Hour to gather and discuss ideas for upcoming events. Here's the current list of planned meetings and ideas:

March 4th - Dean Simon in NYC
March 20th - Monthly Meeting/Possible kick-off for Ski Trip/Ski Club
April 17th - Monthly Meeting: Titanic Anniversary (4/14/1912 - http://www.titanic.com/story/4/The%20accident)
May - Brooklyn Bridge Anniversay
Dec - Williamsburg Bridge Anniversary

Current RPI Events are listed here: http://www.alumni.rpi.edu/si/events.html

Also from RPI: HIT SHOW SURVIVOR TO FEATURE RPI GRADUATE
Dave Johnson '01 will be a cast member on the newest installment of the
popular Survivor reality series. Survivor: Amazon premiered on February 13th
on the CBS television network. Johnson, who earned a bachelor's degree in
mechanical, aeronautical, and nuclear engineering, works for NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Full Story:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor6/survivors/prof/dave.shtml

New favorite links from www.mameres.com

Undocumented Google Features!, read more here and here.

RPI Trivia:
Walter M. Saladik, RPI ’47, was the designer of Cape Cod’s bike trail, a former project engineer, National Park Service, named Citizen of the Year, 1989, in Haddonfield, N.J., and Navy veteran.

>>> From John Perez <<<

N. E. P. Live - With John Perez on Guitar.

> (Some of) You folks wanted to know when I was playing with my band in
> Manhattan:
>
> I am playing live on March 12th at the Village Underground in Manhattan.
> The name of the band is N. E. P.. (Don't ask what it stands for.) For
> directions and address information on the Village Underground, see
>
> http://www.thevillageunderground.com/directions.shtml
>
> We are currently scheduled to go on at 8 PM for a 1 hour show. $5 dollar
> cover charge is normal, it could be 7 dollars - I don't know yet. No Drink
> Minimums.
>
> Music is Alternative Rock. We're doing stuff from Stone Temple Pilots, U2,
> Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, The Black Crowes, Radiohead and other such bands.

> John Perez

Welcome to the Ameres Blog. I finally decided to take the plunge and start writing. (It's really tough to decide what to write and what to publish. I guess I should read more blogs before putting pen to paper and foot to mouth.)

It's early and I am the first to wake up, so I have some time to share with you. (and all of a sudden, I can't think of what to say.)

Please stay tuned for more as I get my act together. I will probably post short articles about things that I find useful and interesting like trillian.cc, yahoo.com, and my new friend blogger.com.

I am also interested in NYC stuff (since I live here): http://www.centralparknyc.org

I am also trying to figure out an easy way to post the national threat level, currently high to my web site, but the gov't does not have an easy way to do it. Currently I have a NYC water level indicator, but since we are out of the drought currently, it's not very interesting.

Stay tuned, Mark
http://www.mameres.com